Mistake Lists Health Care Opponents as Chief Sponsors of Health Bill

Rep. Walt Minnick (D-ID) is one Democrat who says he can't be swayed to vote for the health care reform bill. He voted against the measure last fall. So did Reps. John Tanner (D-TN), Walter Jones (R-NC), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) and Ike Skelton (D-MO).

As Republicans, Brown-Waite and Jones certainly aren't planning to vote on the big health care bill this weekend. And Tanner and Skelton are votes that Democratic leaders are courting.

But as the House prepares on the Senate's health care reform bill this weekend, a Congressional clerical error indicates that these lawmakers are chief sponsors of the legislation.

When the Senate sent its health care package back to the House, lawmakers stipped the core of an old bill designed to provide tax credits for members of the armed forces who are first-time home buyers. House members gutted the tax credit bill, HR 3590, and then inserted the text of the Senate bill. However, they never took out the names of the old sponsors.

It's routine for legislators to recycle old bills like this. They frequently extract the innards of stray bills and insert new legislative text like this.

FOX is told that the error has been corrected on internal House bill tracking systems, but not external services available to the public, like THOMAS.gov or GOVTRACK.

The House is expected to vote on the Senate bill Sunday.