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For the second straight day the countdown to the climactic vote on healthcare legislation was the unanimous Story of the Day. ABC has led with healthcare every day this week. CBS and NBC joined ranks Wednesday. Now all three newscasts lead with their Congressional correspondents as the final wording of the amendment to the Senate bill is published and its pricetag is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office. Per the CBO, over the next ten years, the federal government will spend an extra $94bn annually to provide healthcare to the uninsured and will collect enough new taxes to shrink the deficit by an annual average of $14bn. NBC's newscast was anchored by substitute Ann Curry from Today.

ABC's Jonathan Karl channeled his inner Tim Russert by keeping track of the votes in the House of Representatives on a white chalkboard. Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs 216 votes for passage. Karl calculated that she needs to pick up just eight more from the total of 14 members who are still undecided.

CBS' Nancy Cordes showed us the handful of amendments that the House wants to add to the Senate bill in the process of passing it--just 153 pages worth. She assured us that the estimates of deficit reduction come from the "nonpartisan" CBO, which is "trusted by both parties as the authority on budget matters." NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reported on a "giddy" mood among Democrats when they discovered their bill's fiscal soundness. Tuesday NBC's Chuck Todd quoted his network's opinion poll as finding 46% support (45% opposed) for the legislation. CBS' Cordes countered with numbers from a Pew poll: 38% support, 48% opposition. CBS' White House correspondent Chip Reid (no link) offered another nugget from the Pew poll: 51% predict healthcare costs will rise if the bill passes. "That sounds bad, right?" he asked--except for the fact that 63% predict costs will rise in the event of its defeat.

At the White House, Barack Obama announced that he would cancel his already-postponed diplomatic trip to Indonesia and Australia in order to be on hand when the House vote is held. Congressional Democrats wanted "the President here, on the ground, closing the sale on healthcare, not halfway around the world," observed NBC's Savannah Guthrie. ABC's White House correspondent Jake Tapper was on the road with Vice President Joe Biden in North Carolina as he lobbied House Democrats by telephone. Among the waverers, Biden is targeting those pro-life Democrats who worry that the Senate bill may have a loophole that subsidizes healthcare plans that cover abortions. Tapper pointed out that Roman Catholic bishops oppose the bill for that reason whereas Roman Catholic nuns see no obstacle. "That is easy," Biden told Tapper. "I love the nuns."

Andrew Tyndall 3/20/10 5:28:48 pm

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