Thirty-nine House Democrats stood up to Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and voted against the Pelosi health-care bill. Brody Mullens at the WSJ takes a look at who they are. The full vote count can be found here. Thirteen Democrats took an additional step and voted for the “motion to recommit” a procedural vote that, if it had passed, would have effectively killed the bill. The primary opposition is the obvious one: cost. This bill spends more, way more, federal dollars without any evidence of fixing the system or controlling costs.
And speaking of cost, the latest estimate from the Congressional Budget Office and from the Joint Tax Committee show that the House bill contains over $510 billion (over the ten-year budget window) in tax increases not related to health care whatsoever. And the total estimated savings from this bill — $109 billion over ten years — during the budget window, amounts to about 3 weeks worth of federal spending.
— Alex Brill is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.