Health reform supporters have 'herd mentality,' Dem opponent says

Lawmakers who voted for a health reform bill in the House last Saturday suffer from a "herd mentality," said a Democrat who opposed the legislation.

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), a conservative Democrat who is at times critical of his party's leadership, accused leaders in Congress of hailing the health reform vote as historic in order to gin up support for the bill.

“They always say this is a historic vote to get people caught up in what I refer to as the herd mentality,” Taylor told a Mississippi NBC affiliate. “The herd starts walking one way and they almost can always get the herd to do what they want and i was not a part of that herd."

Taylor was one of 39 Democratic lawmakers to oppose the legislation, which passed on Saturday night in a 220-215 vote.

The close tally hinged in part on an amendment Democratic leaders had let Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) offer, which introduces more stringent rules for federal funding of abortions under the new health legislation.

Taylor, who supported that amendment, warned that the final health bill would fail if Democratic leaders removed it during conference with the Senate's version, a maneuver Democratic leaders have said they prefer.

"It is my opinion that in the course of events that language is removed then the bill dies," Taylor told WDAM-TV of Laurel-Hattiesburg, Miss.