We only needed 51, but instead, we got 60!

[FrenchieCat]

So good! :toast:

[firedupdem]

1. It's a beautiful morning! n/t

[dave29]

2. BAM!

:)

[lamp_shade]

3. ... and Senator Byrd showed up anyway. God love him. They didn't need him yesterday

either, but he showed up for all the votes.

[FrenchieCat]

4. I don't see the media reporting that the bill only needed 51,

which is why the Vice President was there.

I'm sure they won't totally mention it.
At least, it won't be emphasized....

[wndycty]

5. Yes!

:kick:

[Clio the Leo]

6. No way were they gonna miss it....

... can you imagine telling their grandchildren, "I missed one of those votes because I was flying back home to be with your mama and Uncle Steve..." This is one of those moments they ran to be a part of ..... history in the making.

Which makes the GOP's opposition to it all the more puzzeling. "No sweetie, I didn't vote for that bill, sounds funny now, but we all thought President Obama was a bad guy."

[burning rain]

31. It's a given the GOP was going to oppose Democrats on health care.

Their voters don't believe in social assistance. Cooperating with Democrats would hurt Republicans in 2010. This should not be puzzling at all.

[Undercurrent]

7. GOOD MORNING!

[FrenchieCat]

10. Good good morning!

[bdamomma]

8. Good it passed now they need to make changes.

hopefully good changes.

[Adelante]

9. Excellent

:toast:

[gademocrat7]

11. So very good!

[JohnnyLib2]

12. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Deep13]

13. Guess we should have called their bluff.

:(

[Peacetrain]

14. So very good!!!

[hulka38]

15. And if we wanted really stinky poop we might've gotten 70!

[MercutioATC]

16. But what did we give away for those 60 votes?

That's the issue.

[Teaser]

17. probably nothing

because we likely wouldn't have even had 50 with anything else, unfortunately.

It was very easy for senators to say they were for the public option when they knew all along it couldn't happen.

[MercutioATC]

19. I'm not even talking about the PO...

Mandates, no premium caps, no drug re-importation (or, more realistically, drug price negotiation), allowing insurance companies to craft national plans...

...soooo much bad.

[ericgtr]

28. This is exactly right and people are celebrating this?

And then put a mandate on it. Unbelievable.

[niceypoo]

21. Remember the Baucus bill that was too far to the right but was, 'Going to be fixed in the senate?'

It is now, by far, the more progressive of the two bills. At every step it went further and further and further to the right, yet not a single republican voted for it. That is what 60 votes cost us.

[high density]

25. It wasn't changed for Republican votes, it was for douches like Nelson and Lieberman. NM

[dcsmart]

18. Very nice

[mcablue]

20. 50 votes were not enough.

many provisions do not meet the requirements needed for reconciliation.

[DrToast]

26. The vote this morning only needed 51 votes

Cloture was voted on yesterday.

[peaches2003]

22. What Repug didn't vote?

60 Dems - 39 Repugs

EDIT: Found it- Jim Bunning (R KY) Strongly opposed the bill, just not enough to show up and actually vote against it.

[bigwillq]

23. Bunning (nt)

[bigwillq]

24. K and R (nt)

[azmouse]

27. K&R

[Top Cat]

29. This is a day to celebrate......

[rateyes]

30. That means we left too much on the table.

If we only needed 51, then why the hell did we give away the public option, medicare buy-in, single-payer, etc? :shrug:

I wish we had gone the reconciliation, needing only 51 route. We'd have a much better bill.

This is NOT good news.


This sucks.

[jenmito]

32. A late K&R! And the purists were trying VERY hard to get Feingold to vote "no" and they

failed!