Members of Congress Pressured from All Sides in Final Hours Before Health Care Vote

In the run-up to the final vote on the Obama administration’s health care proposal, the American Conservative Union today released its list of potential swing votes, urging recipients to “stand up, speak out, and voice your opinion …”

The ACU list includes several representatives who are reported elsewhere to have made a decision, such as Betsy Markey (D-CO), who was reported in Politico to have announced her intention to vote “yes.”

The differing lists show the difficulty of vote-counting the last few House members  to announce their decisions. Under pressure from the House leadership and President Obama on one hand, but aware of the polls and pressure from constituents on the other, it has become a game of “chicken” on all sides: wait too long and they risk being the vote that appears to decide the fate of the bill, yea or nay. But as long as they haven’t announced their votes, they have the opportunity to be offered bigger “carrots” in the form of potential political spoils.

Pajamas Media has attempted to contact these House members, both in D.C. and at their in-district offices, but has been unable to get through.

[Update: Roll Call reports that more than 100,000 calls per hour have been arriving at the Capitol, twice the phone system’s capacity, for the last four days.]