In a pre-summit talk, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor says Democrats are trying to create a sense of “false momentum” about their national health care bill — a bill Cantor says is dead and losing more support every day. “We have to continue the fight to make sure [it is dead],” Cantor says, “but all signs indicate now they cannot pass this in the House.”
Cantor released a memo yesterday analyzing support for the bill and concluding that House Democrats are far short of the 217 votes required to pass it. Since then, Cantor says, Democratic Whip James Clyburn has retreated from an earlier statement that the national health care bill will have more Democratic votes than when it first passed in November.
“It’s been interesting the radio silence on the other side about the vote count at this point,” Cantor says. “Clyburn is walking it back, and Hoyer is certainly being very cautious in everything he is saying. There’s nothing coming from the Speaker’s office. They’ve got real problems.”
Cantor believes opposition on the issue of abortion alone may be enough to doom the bill. “We’ve been working with some in the pro-life community, and they are very committed in their opposition to this bill,” he says. “That is certainly one of the main groups withholding their support from this bill. And I have to believe that given the political environment, that it becomes more difficult every day.”
Cantor sees no change coming from today’s summit. The Democratic belief that President Obama can revive the bill by the power of his presence is misplaced, he says. “It’s the policy that people are opposed to,” Cantor says. “It’s not Obama. It’s what his policies are. To try and have him use personality to convince the public to support a bad bill — the time for that is over. The public has decided that this bill is a nonstarter.”
“It’s amazing that we are where we are,” Cantor says. “The fact we can all be heartened by is democracy works. All the levers of power in this town are unable to get this bill through because the public has rejected it.”
