Oct 04 2007

Investigative Action Blog: S-CHIP Veto Override Oct 18

Here’s my first IAB diary. This is a collaborative effort. I am going to try to post as much as I have and keep updating this as I go. Positive suggestions and critiques only, please.

DemFromCT is all over this one, so this is great, but let’s get more specific.

The vote is October 18th.

Democratic leaders scheduled the showdown for Oct. 18 to allow two weeks for pressure to build on Republicans. A union-led organization said it would spend more than $3 million trying to influence the outcome.

Still working on finding out exactly how many votes are needed in each house of Congress to win this, and what we know about who’s voting how. If you have that available, post in comments and let me know.  I’ll update.

Here are Dems in the House who voted against the bill who we can start to pressure for the veto override.

Jim Marshall (D)
Baron Hill (D)
Gene Taylor (D)
Bob Etheridge (D)
Mike McIntyre (D)
Dan Boren (D)
Kathy Castor (D)
Dennis Kucinich (Duh)

Call the capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121

If you have info on statements since yesterday on the veto override, post it and I’ll update.

Some other blogposts with info on positions on SCHIP:

Republican Candidates Tied to Bush on SCHIP

More to come as I get info.  I’m gonna crosspost this to see if I can get info from Kossacks.

5 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. Senate already has votes, so the battle’s in the House:

    The magic number of votes Pelosi will need is a bit of a moving target at this point, depending on how many lawmakers are present for the vote. There are currently two open seats vacated by a death and a retirement, meaning if all 433 current members voted Democrats need 289 votes to win.

    During the vote on final passage last week, the House voted 265-159 in favor of the legislation, with one “present” vote and eight lawmakers absent. At least two of those eight — GOP Reps. Jo Ann Davis (Va.) and Barbara Cubin (Wyo.) — have been ill and have not attended votes in quite a while, making it likely they won’t be on hand for the SCHIP override vote. That would lower the override threshold to 287 votes in favor, out of 431 total lawmakers voting.

    Politically, Democrats have begun targeting Republicans to try to sway their votes. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began airing radio ads against the following eight Republicans on the SCHIP issue: Steve Chabot (Ohio), Thelma Drake (Va.), Tom Feeney (Fla.), Sam Graves (Mo.), Randy Kuhl (N.Y.), Jim Saxton and Tim Walberg (Mich.).

    Between those who weren’t around for the first SCHIP vote and the ‘present’ vote — from Rep. Dianne Watson (D-Calif.) — Democrats believe they have a handful of other votes they could count on during a veto override, putting them at around 270 votes in favor of the program.

    If they are successful in flipping five to 10 Republicans in the next week or two, the real pressure will likely fall on the eight Democrats who voted against the program, almost all of whom represent rural conservative districts: Reps. David Boren (Okla.), Betty Castor (Fla.), Bobby Etheridge (N.C.), Baron Hill (Ind.), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Jim Marshall (Ga.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), and Gene Taylor (Miss.).

  2. was trying to update the diary with better information but it won’t update…..

    The WaPo post above has more info about the number of votes and the name.

    Here’s my crosspost in Orange

  3. it’s already rolling off the Big Orange diary list, as action diaries usually do….. see if it catches on around here. I gotta finish getting ready for work…

    • Alma on October 4, 2007 at 16:18
    • #

    I think it would be a good idea to fax the no votes too, to try and get them to flip.  That way once they’ve hung up from talking to us, they still have the “paper” to have to deal with.  I hope they recycle.

  5. He’s almost there. He’s concerned the tobacco tax to fund it is regressive (it is) and will hit the poor the hardest (it will, but maybe not as much as lung cancer)

    Anyway, he can be turned, IMO…

Comments have been disabled.