votes on two key budget bills in the u.s. senate as march 18th grows ever closer. it is the new deadline to avoid a government shutdown. our chief political course spoepbtd carl cameron is live on capitol hill. here we go. ground hog day, and jon today s vote is fairly well determined. there are two proposals and they re expected to be defeated. the first from the hours, it s passed the house, hr1, the gop proposal to cut six is 1/2 million dollars from 61 1/2 billion dollars from current spending, this would fulfill the budget obligations for the fiscal year. the counteroffer from the white house and democrats was a cut of $4.7 billion, and the gop pretty much laughed it away. they both will be voted on today, and both are expected to fail. there could even be cross over votes with some parties are republicanning against their ownle proposal and democrats voting against their proposal. all of this leaves open the very real possibility that a government shutdown could strike nine d
he is not going to play the washington games. we ve had enough in the last two years and i think the american people are sick and tired of it. if anyone thinks that out of this last election, the american people were voting for more partisanship, more saying no, i think they re going to have a rude awakening. here s the bottom line, the main question is everyone s mind right now seems to be can congress avoid that government shutdown? keep in mind, lawmakers have a march 18th deadline awaiting them to avert a government shutdown that is now scheduled for march 18th. back to you. as promised, a very astute report. thank you very much. have a good one. that was very pleasurable. here are your headlines. a dramatic rescue in the middle of the gulf after an oil rig goes up in flames. the only two men aboard the platform hoisted to safety by a coast guard helicopter. the owner of the rig says it was not in production after being shut down two weeks ago. steve? meanwhile, brian,
we did let dennis miller let loose on him yesterday but it s not an important story. but afghanistan is important and coming up, sally quinn will analyze his remarks. it s been widely reported that white house told nancy pelosi to have the health care vote finished by march 13. but he apparently told emmanuel she doesn t want a deadlock. joining us is laura ingraham. what do you think is going on here. robert gibbs said we re not going to hold the march 18th deadline. what do you think is going on. here is what we know. nancy pelosi had the votes, there would be a vote. the second she has the votes for this health care bill she is going to schedule a vote. okay, there are so many different pieces of this debate right now that are falling apart for the democrats all at the same time. we have a senate parliament
harry reid put republicans on notice they will usury consillation to avoid a filibuster and force an up or down wrote on health care. and right now they are not sure they have the votes to get it through the house. and president obama s march 18th deadline does not appear likely. americans are not in any rush to pass this or any other 2,700-page bill that poses as reform but races the cost of health care. members of congress shouldn t be deceived by the theatrical attempts to create a sense of urgency about the legislation. we will take up the bill when we are ready to take up the bill, but it s not something that we want to drag out. suzanne malveaux is following developments for us and is live at the white house this morning.
people a final up-or-down vote on health care reform. the time for talk is over. it s time to vote. i ask you to help us get us over the finish line these next two weeks. let s fight our way through the politics of the moment. let s pass reform by the end of this year. this is the time where we have to get this done. so, can democrats make it happen this time? and at what cost? let s get the experts in here. candy crowley, of course, host of cnn s state of the union. david gergen, cnn gene your political analyst. candy, the president set this march 18th deadline for the house to pass health care reform. this is not speaker nancy pelosi or majority leader stanny hoyer deadline. they re not ready, are they, with the 216 votes they need? they re not ready, so far as we know. i have talked to some people on the hill, and at the white house.