Vote Count On Overhaul Is Our Madness

So my cell phone rings the other day, and I jump for it. But it's not a source. It's my 20-year-old nephew, calling from college. "Who do you have in your brackets," he asks, with the sense of urgency normally reserved for some sort of natural disaster.

For a second, I'm not even sure what he's talking about. Then I realize it's — basketball. Now in a normal year I'm as into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament as the next sports fan. But this year, my team (the Michigan Wolverines), well, kinda sucked. And, besides, I've been busy trying to calculate something else.

"You know," I sort of snapped at him. "I've got much more important brackets to worry about. Like whether Congressman Altmire is going to switch from a 'no' to a 'yes' to make up for the fact that Congressman Stupak is pretty much a lock to switch from a "yes" to a 'no' because of abortion."

 

"So you're not doing the tournament?" he asked, his voice tinged with disbelief. "No," I replied. "I'm trying to figure out if the bill that would let you keep health insurance until you're 26 is gonna pass."

And as of midday Friday, things seemed to be moving the bill's way. Among the endorsements flooding in were those of the American Medical Association, the AARP, the Federation of American Hospitals, and the AFL-CIO.

Wavering Democrats were climbing off the fence, as well. Rep. John Boccieri of Ohio, who was a "no" vote in November, said he's a "yes" vote on Sunday. California's Sam Farr also confirmed he'll vote for overhaul, as will Rep. Allen Boyd of Florida. Still, with the count apparently a handful of votes short, President Obama has invited the entire House Democratic Caucus to the White House Saturday afternoon for one last round of group arm-twisting.

Still out there is the pesky issue of abortion. There's a rumor that the anti-abortion Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan are angling for a separate vote in the Senate. But the abortion fight has devolved into a messy argument between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who say the Senate health bill is too lenient on abortion, and the Catholic Health Association and some 60,000 nuns, who say the abortion restrictions are adequate and the bill's extension of health insurance to more than 32 million people is a critical step forward.

Some wags are even suggesting that the twin losses in the NCAA Thursday of Catholic hoops powerhouses Notre Dame and Georgetown could be a message to the bishops from God to leave the health bill well enough alone.

March Madness indeed.