“It is because of the Blue Dog Coalition that there is no floor vote before the August break.”

The Blue Dogs have blocked a vote on health insurance reform before the August recess -- and they think it's a big win:

Blue Dogs and House leaders have struck a deal to guarantee that the House will not vote on a healthcare bill before August, a leading Blue Dog said on Wednesday.

In exchange for putting off a floor vote until after Labor Day, the Energy and Commerce Committee may be allowed to continue its markup of the healthcare bill this week even if an agreement has not been reached between committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and seven Energy and Commerce Blue Dogs over the content of the bill.

The Blue Dogs consider this a great victory. Of course, the biggest beneficiaries are House Republicans and the insurance industry who wanted a delay. Check out this statement from Blue Dog Stephanie Herseth Sandlin:

Herseth Sandlin also made it clear that she believes the Blue Dogs have scored a major victory by getting leaders to back away from their goal of having the House vote on a healthcare bill before members return home for the month of August.

“We’ve achieved the victory of not having a vote on the House floor that will give every member a chance to digest what’s in the bill, whether it’s in a markup that occurs in Energy and Commerce or whether it’s as the bill exists right now,” she said. “It is because of the Blue Dog Coalition that there is no floor vote before the August break.”

Got that? This is considered a "victory" by the Blue Dogs. That's beyond appalling.

UPDATE: Still waiting for details on the agreement. The concern about delay is that the insurance industry will bombard House members with ads over the vacation. That will freak a lot of them out. So, even if there are good provisions in the compromise, the question is whether they'll still have the votes in September. That's why the insurance industry and their lackeys in the GOP wanted to delay the vote. The House is really our best (only) hope for real reform.