Late Saturday night, Democrats wooed holdout Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska to secure the 60th and deciding vote to advance health reform in the Senate. The bill puts President Obama’s signature issue firmly on a path for Christmas Eve passage, following a 60-40 test vote (1 of 3 this week) earlier this morning that basically sealed the deal.
Republicans were outnumbered in their efforts to halt ecstatic Democrats from finally overhauling health care after years of trying. But GOP leaders are threatening to still use every parliamentary maneuver at their disposal to try and delay the bill, so as to block President Obama from reaching his goal of passage prior to Christmas.
To get Nelson’s vote, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was forced to agree to a series of concessions on abortion and other issues demanded by his fellow Democratic Sen. Nelson. Without such concessions, the bill would have missed the 60 votes needed to prevent a Republican filibuster, which would have all but killed it. The bill in its current form still lacks the Public Option that liberals craved. But once again, it was this or nothing. The bill could still be tweaked or even revamped once it becomes law.
Following the Christmas eve vote, the next step will be for the House and Senate to meet and reconcile their separate versions of the bill. It will then go to the President for his signature.
No question about it, THIS is a MAJOR achievement! Yes, the Bill will continue to be worked on to make it a better bill. But what a monumental step forward The President and Dems have taken!