Why Didn’t Mark Warner Vote on Health Care Reform Repeal?

You may have noticed the other day, that Sen. Mark Warner missed the vote on the Republicans’ ridiculous, irresponsible attempt in the U.S. Senate to repeal health care reform. I was curious what happened, as I’m sure many others were. Apparently, at least one right-wing blogger (who i will not link to, but he owes Sen. Warner an apology) insinuated that Warner had “skipped out” on the vote. Uh, not quite. Here’s the real explanation, courtesy of Sen. Warner’s communications director, Kevin Hall:

1. Yes, my boss attended a 9am event Wednesday morning at the Center for American Progress in Washington to discuss his efforts to promote smarter, results-oriented government.

2. Unfortunately, Senator Warner missed Wednesday’s 5pm vote on the repeal amendment because he was at a local hospital where his daughter was taken by ambulance after experiencing a serious medical emergency at school at midafternoon.

3. The same hour that the Senate declined to adopt the repeal amendment, we posted a lengthy statement on Senator Warner’s homepage explaining his absence, and making it clear that he opposed the repeal amendment. This statement also was published in the Congressional Record.

4. The Wall Street Journal article you cited has been corrected to make it clear their request for a comment, in fact, never reached us: “Editor’s note: Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) did not vote in Wednesday’s Senate vote to repeal the health-overhaul law because of a family medical emergency. A version of this story indicated his office did not respond to a request for comment on why he was not present for the vote. Because of a technical error, his office did not receive the request for comment.”

I hope Sen. Warner’s daughter is alright, and thank Sen. Warner for his steadfast support of high-quality health care for all Americans.