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Rep. Betsy Markey voted against a health-care reform bill backed by President Barack Obama and the House Democratic leadership Saturday night, citing concerns over the cost of the bill.
“It was a difficult decision because there’s a lot of good things in the bill, as well, that I like, but in the end, I just didn’t think that it did enough to control health-care costs,” the Fort Collins Democrat said in an interview with the Coloradoan, calling it the most difficult vote she’s cast in her 10 months in Congress.
The $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul narrowly passed the House 220-215. Markey was among 39 Democrats voting against the bill, and she was the only one of the five Colorado Democrats in the House to vote no.
Only one Republican, Joseph Cao of Lousiana, voted in favor of the bill.
The vote is Markey’s most significant break with Democratic leadership since assuming office in January, and it comes on an issue that has long been a priority for her party. She was among about 10 freshmen Democrats prominently targeted by Republicans in 2010 who voted against the bill.
“It was very difficult, not because it was my own party but because it was health care reform that’s so needed in this country, and I desperately want to see us reform our health-care system,” Markey said.
The vote is likely to disappoint many Northern Colorado Democratic activists, who waited two generations for their party to win control of the region’s congressional seat.
“While I agree that there are problems with the bill, I’m convinced that many of these can be resolved in the conference committee (between the House and Senate),” said Ann Molison of Fort Collins, who volunteered for Markey’s 2008 campaign against three-term Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave.
“Seventeen years have gone by, and health care reform must be passed now, even if the legislation is less than perfect,” Molison said. “The good in this particular bill far outweighs its flaws; the flaws will become so apparent within a year that they can and will be repaired.”