Murfreesboro Democrat Bart Gordon is one of the new “yes” votes that White House and Democratic leaders can count on when the healthcare bill comes up for a vote in the House.
Gordon voted against the health care legislation in the House last year. He says a new preliminary cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office helped him decide to switch.
The CBO says the reworked version of the overhaul will cost $940 billion and help reduce the deficit by $138 billion over ten years.
“I felt you had to look at this health care bill in contrast to the status quo. And health care costs are going up twice as fast as inflation. And we cannot get our budget deficit under control and people can’t continue to afford it if we don’t get our cost down.”
Gordon and other Tennessee lawmakers belong to the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats. Many of them have been under pressure to support the effort. But Gordon says President Obama has not called him, and leaders have given him space to make up his own mind.
Many vulnerable Democrats are worried about the implications of voting for the overhaul. But Gordon is not running for re-election.
This report was produced by Capitol News Connection reporter, Manuel Quinones.
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