Third centrist Democrat backs party on healthcare procedural vote
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Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln said today that she will vote to bring her party’s healthcare bill to the Senate floor, all but ensuring that the Senate will pass a key procedural motion tonight and will be able to begin formal debate on a sweeping overhaul of healthcare after Thanksgiving.
Lincoln was the last of three centrist Democrats whose votes were crucial to bringing the Democratic healthcare bill to the floor for formal debate. Sixty votes are needed tonight to pass cloture on a motion to proceed — the mechanism to bring the bill to the floor and open formal debate.
“I will vote in support of cloture on the motion to proceed on this bill,” Lincoln said on the Senate floor.
Like her colleagues, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, Lincoln said her decision to support her party and to bring the bill to the floor does not mean she will support the final product.
“Let me be perfectly clear I am opposed to a new government-administered healthcare plan as a part of comprehensive health insurance reform and I will not vote for the proposal that has been introduced,” Lincoln said. She said she was looking forward to being able to offer amendments.
“I don’t agree with everything in this bill,’ she said, but “I have concluded that I believe it is more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation’s healthcare system for all Americans, rather than simply drop the issue and walk. That’s not what people sent us her to do.
“The vote tonight will mark the beginning of consideration by the full U.S. Senate, not the end.”
Of the three centrists, Lincoln has been the target of the most political pressure because she faces a tough reelection campaign next year. Lincoln took note of the political reality by saying she will not bend to pressure from the left or right. “My first loyalty is with the people of Arkansas,” she said.
The vote is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Mary Landrieu to back Senate move on healthcare debate
-- Noam N. Levey and Michael Muskal
