Responding to the Republican victory in Massachusetts, Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, is calling on Senate leaders to suspend any votes on the Democrats’ health care legislation until the winner in the special Senate election, Scott Brown, is sworn into office.
In a statement, Mr. Webb, who voted for the health care bill in December, congratulated Mr. Brown on his victory and said he looked forward to working with him. But he also said Democrats must take note of the wider implications of the election results.
“In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process,” Mr. Webb said. “It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.”
Top Democrats have already signaled that they do not want to rush the health care legislation through the Senate before Mr. Brown can be sworn in. Instead, they are eying a backup plan to ask House Democrats to adopt the Senate health care bill as-is, which would send it directly to President Obama for his signature.
But the quick reaction by Mr. Webb, a centrist, is early evidence that Democratic leaders could find themselves struggling to hold together support for the health care measure. Backing of the bill was always tenuous, and party leaders are bracing for the possibility that Democrats who previously supported the bill may turn against it.
