O care

With the failure of the Republicans to pass health care it is time to review just how Obamacare passed. The house had a 58 Democratic majority and easily passed their version of the bill and forwarded that to the senate. The senate with 57 Democrats and two Independents were only one vote short of a filibuster proof 60 votes. Then Arlon Spector a Republican changed parties and they had the 60. That lasted for four months when Senator Kennedy died and the Dems were back to 59. No problem because the Democratic governor of Massachusetts appointed a Democrat Paul Kirk and they were back to 60. The senate then moved quickly to pass the senate version of Obamacare and sent it to the house for reconciliation. There was no particular rush because it was assumed that the special election scheduled for January would elect Kirk but that is not what happened. Republican Scot Brown won and the Dems now were back to 59 votes. The house then came to the rescue by changing the house bill to match the senate and the bill passed 219 to 212 with 34 Dems voting against bill. It was then sent to the president and he signed it into law on March 23rd 2010.