Tensions grow as historic healthcare vote approaches

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As the House approaches a vote on healthcare overhaul, tensions on and off the floor are growing.

After meeting with the caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led Democrats across the street to the Capitol on Sunday, walking arm in arm with Rep. John Lewis, of Georgia. Lewis, a veteran of the civil-rights movement, was reportedly greeted with racial epithets from protesters outside the Capitol on Saturday.

Protestors today shouted, ‘Kill the bill.’

‘We got your back,’ supporters called out.

On the floor of the House, a familiar counterpoint between Democrats and Republicans aligned against the bill was playing out as voting was anticipated in the evening.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) quoted his father, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a career-long champion of healthcare reform, who died last year.

‘The parallel between the struggle for civil rights and the fight to make healthcare affordable for all Americans is significant,’ he said. ‘Healthcare is not only a civil right. It’s a moral issue.’

The legislation threatens the creation of ‘a European nanny-state,’ Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) said in the opening series of one-minute remarks. ‘The American people don’t desire more oppressive, intrusive government in control of their health.’

Democrats are hailing the measure for its deficit relief -- with an estimated $138-billion reduction in the annual federal budget deficit over 10 years. Republicans are dismissing the projection of the Congressional Budget Office as phony math.

‘The oldest trick in the book in Washington is you can manipulate a bill to manipulate the results,’ Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told the House.

The first vote was not expected until about 6 p.m. EDT.

-- Mark Silva