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December 28, 2009 at 07:00 PM
After the Christmas Eve passage of the Reid Health Bill, which the Senate approved 60-39, the analyses and predictions came pouring in.
By noon, I’d been sent a link to the Washington Post’s look into how each senator voted, an enlightening little graphic that showed – surprise! – the party loyalty with which each senator cast his or her vote.
You’ll note at the top that not one Democrat voted against the bill, and not one Republican deigned to give it their seal of approval. (Republican Sen. Jim Bunning from Kentucky did not vote.)
Shuffling through the analysis, the WaPo shows the dollar amount in campaign contributions each senator received from the health industry, as well as the percentage of uninsured in their state.
To me, then, the most striking was instances where the party lines won against large chunks of influential cash – for instance, Sen. Max Baucus, who received nearly $4 million from the health industry yet voted “yes” – or against the evident need of their state’s residents – such as Texas Sen. Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchinson, who voted “no” and represents a state where nearly a quarter of residents have no coverage.
