Deal with Stupak makes the difference. “The Senate healthcare bill passed the House a vote of 219-212. Thirty-four Democrats voted against their party, and against the legislation. As expected, the Republican opposition was unanimous.”

Stupak’s anti-abortion Democrats will get their fig leaf: “According to a member of Congress who was briefed on the matter, Pelosi has agreed to let Stupak have a vote on his amendment, which instructs the Senate to substitute his language for the Senate language on abortion.”

“People close to the situation said House leaders Wednesday appeared about ten votes shy of the 216 needed to pass the legislation, which could be voted on this weekend. The tension was exacerbated by controversy in Washington over a possible tactic, known as ‘deeming,’ that Democrats are considering using to speed the vote.”

“Because employers would get penalized if any of their low- and moderate-wage workers ended up in the new subsidized insurance pool, they would avoid hiring such workers. Democrats claim they want to jam through HCR so they can turn their attention to jobs, but the bill provides a strong disincentive for businesses to hire.”

“The United States, Germany and other major economies have moved “substantially” closer to losing their top-notch credit ratings and can not depend solely on economic growth to save them, a report warned on Monday.” The ratings of the Aaa governments are currently stable, but distance-to-downgrade ain’t looking good.