South Carolina's Clyburn has tough task as House whip on health-care vote
By Gary Reese
March 14, 2010 — The looming vote for final passage of the historic health care bill is the stiffest challenge House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina has faced in his three-plus years as the lawmaker responsible for counting heads and ensuring passage of major legislation. The forthcoming health care vote puts Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, in the tough position of securing enough Democratic support to gain final passage of a historic initiative that will help define the legacy of President Barack Obama. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the original House health care measure in November, 24 of them Blue Dogs. ---Over the past year, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint has morphed from a relatively unknown Southern Republican into a national champion of conservative activists. Today, he will bring a beneficiary of those efforts to South Carolina for a three-city campaign tour dubbed "The Comeback Begins." Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, 38, credits DeMint's early support with catapulting him into a strong position in his Senate race against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. --Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-New Orleans, isn't going along with the House Republican conference's planned one-year ban on earmarks. "He thinks it's shortsighted," said Cao's chief of staff, Clayton Hall. But other Republicans in the delegation say the earmark ban, though potentially harmful to Louisiana universities, community groups and research centers that depended on earmarks for years, is a necessary step with Americans clamoring for lower deficits. --The 2010 Virginia General Assembly adjourned Sunday, one day later than scheduled, after speedy approval by weary lawmakers of a $70 billion-plus budget-balancing plan. The budget doesn't raise taxes, prunes spending for education and health care, and erases a $4.2 billion shortfall with new fees and a giant cash grab from the public-employee pension. --Cuts to higher education would not be as severe as feared, but hospitals would face hundreds of millions in new fees and taxes under Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue's revised budget plan. |
