Massachusetts Election Could Stop Health Care Bill
Today’s Senate race in Massachusetts affects everyone in America: if Democrat Martha Coakley wins, she’ll vote for the health care billas expected. But if Reublican Scott Brown takes the seat, which opened up after Ted Kennedy passed away, he’ll block the bill, depriving Democrats of their much-needed 60th vote.
According to CNN, 60 is the magic number because with that many votes, Republicans won’t be able to filibuster the bill to its death. And it’s not just health care: Republicans would have enough votes to block future Senate votes on a broad range of White House priorities.
Until recently, Coakley was presumed to win easily in the heavily Democratic state, where no Republican has won a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts since 1972. But the latest poll shows Brown leading Coakley by 7 percentage points, 52 percent to 45 percent. (Keep in mind there is a sampling error of 4 percent.) The Brown/Coakley race will likely be too close to call – and there are no exit polls.
“Massachusetts wants real reform and not this trillion-dollar Obama health care that is being forced on the American people,” Brown said. “As the 41st [Republican] senator, I will make sure that we do it better.” But we all know what will happen if he’s elected: the idea of revamping health care will fall by the wayside, just like it did during the eight years of George W. Bush. It will be a huge defeat for the American people.
