Politics on the Hudson

Freshman Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei of the Syracuse suburb of DeWitt announced today he will vote for a Senate-passed health reform bill later this week..

Maffei was among the 220 House Democrats who supported the bill that passed the House in November, but as a vulnerable freshman he has been under pressure to switch his vote.

The health care vote is expected to come later this week as part of a parliamentary measure called a self-enacting rule that will set the stage for a second vote.

The second vote will be on certain changes House Democrats want to make to the Senate bill under the 2011 budget resolution using a procedure called reconciliation.

The reconciliation procedure allows the Senate to accept the changes with a 51 vote majority instead of having to overcome a filibuster with 60 votes.

Maffei’s announcement today was made at an American Cancer Society office in East Syracuse.

Two other freshman Democrats from New York also under pressure are Reps. Scott Murphy of Glens Falls, who represents the upper Hudson Valley, and Mike McMahon of Staten Island. They voted against the original House health care bill and are now being lobbied to support the Senate legislation in conjunction with the House changes.

The Working Families Party announced  yesterday it will not endorse any candidate who votes against the health care legislation.  

A third New York Democrat who voted against the House bill—former Rep. Eric Massa of Corning—resigned last week.

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