Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, told The Progressive Populist Thursday that there will be 60 votes to bring a health care reform package to the floor for Senate debate this fall. Harkin, the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in an interview that there will be the necessary 51 votes to pass the full bill with a public option included.
Harkin also told labor activists Thursday that he had the 60 Senate votes necessary in July to clear the card-check bill through the Senate. But when he called ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) longtime doctor, he was told the lawmaker was too ill to travel to Washington and could not vote on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier to organize unions and is a high legislative priority for labor unions, The Hill reported.
Harkin declined to provide details on what was in the agreed bill, but said he put the bill on the back-burner, "so it's still on warm, OK?"
The Massachusetts legislature is debating changing the law to allow Gov. Deval Patrick (D) to name an interim senator to serve until the January 19 special election to replace the late Sen. Kennedy. But Republicans and some Democrats are objecting, fearing that politics might enter into the process.
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