Hillary e-mails show she lobbied Dems for Obamacare passage

Among Friday’s tranche of new Hillary Clinton e-mails is one that seemingly has nothing to do with her duties as secretary of state and instead points to one of her longtime pet projects – Democratic health care reform.

According to an e-mail dated Nov. 7, 2009, Clinton had been actively involved in lobbying fellow Democrats to pass the Affordable Health Care for America Act, now known as ObamaCare, as the legislation struggled through a divided vote in the House of Representatives.

The vote, 220-215 along party lines in favor of the act, was taken late Nov. 7. Richard Verma, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs at the time, and is now the U.S. Ambassador to India, wrote to Clinton immediately afterwards:

“Think your calls to House members made all the difference. Close, but good result. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) still waiting on cbo (Congressional Budget Office) scoring before taking up senate bill. Could slide at least a week, maybe more.”

The Senate passed its own bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, on Dec. 24, 2009. It was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.

This wasn't Clinton's first foray into the health care debate. As first lady she led a failed attempt to establish federal health care form, dubbed "Hillarycare" by her opponents. It was launched in 1993 as a legislative package, but died by the middle of her husband Bill Clinton's first term in 1994.