Democrat John Boccieri to Vote Yes on Health Care Bill March 21st

by Jacob Zinn | March 19, 2010 at 10:15 am

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On Friday, Ohio Democrat John Boccieri (D) announced he would vote in favour of passing the health care bill, bringing the total number of votes to 194 yes, 208 no.

I will be voting yes for the bill, said Boccieri at a news conference outside the Capitol.

Boccieri said he changed his mind on Thursday when the Congressional Budget Office announced that the proposed health care bill would cut the deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years.

He was also influenced by President Barack Obama’s story about Natoma Canfield, a leukemia patient from Ohio who couldn’t afford health care at $8,500 a year.He said that switching his vote to yes could cost him his job and jeopardize his reelection, but feels that voting no would be wrong.

“I'm standing up today and doing what I believe is right,” he said.

Counting Boccieri's Vote on the Health Care Bill

House Democrats Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Betsy Markey of Colorado previously voted no in November, but recently changed their votes to yes.

Other undecided Democrats such as Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire—who previously voted no—are being asked to reconsider, despite strong opinions in their constituencies.

All 194 yes votes are by Democrats. The 208 no votes are by 177 Republicans and 31 Democrats. The Democrats need 216 yes votes—18 more than their current total—to pass the health care bill.

Voting will happen on Sunday and is looking to be very close. Of the unaccounted-for votes, 3 are leaning no and 9 are leaning yes, which would make the revised total 211 to 203. The voting preferences of the 17 remaining politicians are unknown.