What time is the health-care vote? And other critical questions.

[tekisui]

Source: Washington Post

The final showdown has arrived, the House opened up for legislative business right at 1 p.m., and everybody's got two questions they want answered: Do Democrats have the votes -- and when will the vote be?

Here's a road map to the afternoon, evening and -- potentially -- nighttime ahead on Capitol Hill as President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team try to lock down the final votes to pass the sweeping $940 billion health-care bill. The key issues:

What time is the health-care vote? (Updated 3:50 p.m.)
The most precise answer is: Sometime after 8 p.m. After 4 p.m., the House is expected to begin a one-hour debate on the rule, which is the legislative vehicle for establishing the rules for the debate that will follow on the health-care legislation.

Sometime after 5 p.m., the House will vote on that rule. This is already a two-hour delay from the most optimistic scenario crafted by Democrats this morning. That's in large part because Republicans are forcing a series of votes on parliamentary points of order, each of which is beaten back largely on party lines.

Assuming the rule is approved -- and such rules almost always are, because they are viewed as a party-line issue -- the House will then begin roughly two hours of debate on the legislation itself.

If all goes according to plan, that would set up a series of final votes after 8 p.m., culminating with the Senate-approved legislation, and then on the revision package of amendments to that bill (which then goes to the Senate for consideration next week).

How many votes do the Democrats need?
The usual magic number for a bare majority in the House is 218, but that's when there are a full 435 members in the House. There are currently four vacancies, bringing the total number of members down to 431. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) died in February, and Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) and Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) have resigned -- for a variety of different reasons -- in the last two months. Murtha, Abercrombie and Wexler voted "yes" on the House health-care bill in November, when 219 Democrats voted for the legislation.

more, with good info on all the procedural tricks the goppers are likely to use: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/what-time-is-the-vote-and-othe.html

[chill_wind]

1. Thanks tekisui. K & R.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. kicking

[chill_wind]

3. kicking.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. K&R for great info!

[denimgirly]

5. It appears it is pushed back to 9:30pm