Health Care Bill passes first Senate hurdle

[Pint0 Xtreme]

FINALLY! They actually got all 60 votes.

Senate Democrats get votes needed for health care debate

Washington (CNN) -- The Senate voted 60-39 Saturday night to proceed with a floor debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid's $848 billion health care bill.
The vote to prevent a Republican filibuster against starting debate broke down along strict party lines. All 58 Senate Democrats -- along with independent Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont -- supported bringing the measure to the floor. Almost all of the 40 Senate Republicans opposed the motion.
A minimum of 60 votes is required to break a filibuster in the 100-member body.
Earlier Saturday, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln said she supported bringing the health care bill to the floor for debate. Speaking on the Senate floor hours before the 8 p.m. procedural vote, the Arkansas Democrat said she would give Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama the crucial vote required to move the Democrats' contentious health care measure forward for debate.
"Although I don't agree with everything in this bill, I believe it is important to begin this debate," Lincoln said. She added that she still opposes the public option.
"This issue is very complex. There is no easy fix," she added.
Reid says the 2,074-page bill would expand health insurance coverage to 31 million more Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of the plan at $848 billion over 10 years, though Republicans argue it's much more.
A House bill was passed nearly two weeks ago.
Also Saturday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, became the 59th lawmaker to side with Reid, who needed the support of all 58 Senate Democrats and independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to avoid a GOP filibuster.
All 40 Republicans are expected to oppose having a debate.
"At this time of economic crisis, we need to make things easier for people struggling out there, not harder," argued Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"And make no mistake, the Democrat plan we'll vote on tonight would make life harder for the vast majority of Americans. It raises their taxes. It raises their health care premiums. It cuts their Medicare and drives millions off of the private insurance they currently have," McConnell said.
Amber Wilkerson Marchand, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, issued a statement before Lincoln even stopped talking.
"Blanche Lincoln's vote tonight is unequivocally a vote in favor of President Obama's $2.5 trillion government-run health care plan. Obviously the pressure from the left wing of her party finally got to Blanche Lincoln.
"She not only reversed her previous statements that a government-run plan was too costly, but she completely ignored the increasing unemployment rate in her state and the growing national deficit when she announced that she will cast the 60th vote in favor of President Obama's costly health care plan tonight," Marchand said.
"There's no doubt that this vote will be a critical issue for Senator Lincoln as she embarks on her uphill re-election bid, and the people of Arkansas will have an opportunity to hold her accountable when they cast their ballots next November."
Read the health care bill (PDF)
Lincoln said her commitment had nothing to do with her re-election bid.
In announcing her decision, Landrieu added a caveat: "My vote today to move forward on this important debate should in no way be construed by the supporters of this current framework as an indication of how I might vote as this debate comes to an end.
"It is a vote to move forward to continue the good and essential and important and imperative work that is under way."
"Spirited debate and good-faith negotiations in this Senate have produced a bill that contains some amazing and cutting-edge reforms," Landrieu added.
Landrieu had said she was concerned about the bill's costs to small businesses and individuals, and was opposed to a public health insurance option "that will undermine the private insurance market."
Sen. Ben Nelson, a Democratic moderate from Nebraska, was a holdout until Friday, when he said he would vote to start debate.
"Throughout my Senate career, I have consistently rejected efforts to obstruct," he said. "That's what the vote on the motion to proceed is all about."
"If you don't like a bill, why block your own opportunity to amend it?"
Nelson, who met with Reid on Thursday, said they did not discuss the specifics regarding abortion language, the antitrust exemption for the insurance industry and other issues of concern to him.
After the Saturday night vote, senators won't reconvene until after Thanksgiving. Then there will be several weeks of amendments being introduced, impassioned debates on the Senate floor and news conferences.
If the Senate manages to pass a bill, a congressional conference committee would need to merge the House and Senate proposals into a consensus version requiring final approval from each chamber before moving to Obama's desk to be signed into law.

[Simon_Jester]

So, which version of the bill is this again? Please tell me it isn't the Baucus Plan...

[The Defenestrator]

I was under the impression that the Dems have enough votes to pass the bill easily, and that getting the 60 votes for cloture was the hard part. Is that accurate?

[Pint0 Xtreme]

I was under the impression that the Dems have enough votes to pass the bill easily, and that getting the 60 votes for cloture was the hard part. Is that accurate?

That's my understanding. This isn't the final version of the bill as it can still be amended in the Senate and then merged with the House version.

[Knife]

So, which version of the bill is this again? Please tell me it isn't the Baucus Plan...

This isn't the Baccus plan, rather a mish mash of the Baccus and the Health Committee plan along with other shit. It is weaker than the House plan though, but if it passes the Senate it'll have to be mixed with the House plan to pass both Houses.

[CmdrWilkens]

So, which version of the bill is this again? Please tell me it isn't the Baucus Plan...

This isn't the Baccus plan, rather a mish mash of the Baccus and the Health Committee plan along with other shit. It is weaker than the House plan though, but if it passes the Senate it'll have to be mixed with the House plan to pass both Houses.

Further clarifying, this has the opt-out negotiated rate public option, prevention of recission, and the extension of parental insurance until 26 amongst other things so there are quite a few goodies. The thing is that the final details are still murky and will be until probably Monday or Tuesday when they begin getting ready for amendments and floor action.

[[R_H]]

According to the article that Pint0 posted, the bill is (currently) 2074 pages long. Are a lot of bills similarily long, and why are they that long?

[Broomstick]

US bills aren't always that long, but they certainly do run to a lot of pages. Frequently it's because of amendments being tacked on that have nothing to do with the main purpose of the bill, but are there as part of the deal making. So, for instance, a bill for the Defense Department might also have funding for a new road, bridge repair, and three city parks, all in different states, in order to capture the votes of those senators/congressmen. In other cases, it's micro-management run amok.

[Knife]

According to the article that Pint0 posted, the bill is (currently) 2074 pages long. Are a lot of bills similarily long, and why are they that long?

Well, it is fairly long, but keep in mind this is a fundamental restructure of American Health Care System, not just a declaration of every second Tuesday of November being National Orange Day. Some talking head on MSNBC was saying, though, if you put it in standard font and font size for a novel, it's only about 300 or so pages. They were saying it's about the same size as Palin's book. I don't know if that's true, but...