UPDATE: Senate Test Vote On Health Bill Gets Needed 60 Votes
(Updates with additional details on health-care vote.)
By Patrick Yoest
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Senate on Saturday voted to begin debate on
an $848 billion health-care overhaul measure, marking the first step of Senate
Democrats' politically treacherous quest to win passage of President Barack
Obama's top legislative priority.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D., Nev.) had to secure 60 votes to avoid
a filibuster of a procedural motion to allow debate on the bill, which he melded
together by from two committee measures approved earlier this year. Reid
succeeded by getting unanimous support in his caucus for the motion, while no
Republicans voted in favor of it.
The final vote was 60-39 in favor of the motion. Sen. George Voinovich (R.,
Ohio) did not attend the vote.
"Imagine if, instead of debating the bills that created Social Security or
Medicare, those who didn't like it said: let's just move on to the next issue.,"
Reid said of the vote on the bill, which the Senate will begin debating after a
one-week recess in observance of Thanksgiving.
Two centrist Democrats--Sens. Mary Landrieu (D, La.) and Blanche Lincoln (D,
Ark.)--kept the outcome of the vote in question until Saturday afternoon. A
third, Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) announced that he would vote in favor of the
motion on Friday.
All three have cautioned that their vote for the motion did not signal a vote
for final passage of the bill, signifying the difficulty Reid faces in balancing
the liberal and moderate wings of his caucus. A proposed public health insurance
plan in the bill--which states could choose not to carry--represents a major
dividing line among Democrats.
Lincoln said that she and other expected "legitimate opportunities" to make
changes to the bill, saying she would not vote in favor of the public plan "that
has been introduced by Leader Reid as it is written."
But Lincoln, who faces a tough re-election battle next year, already began to
see attacks Saturday aimed at her tenuous political fortunes.
"There's no doubt that this vote will be a critical issue for Sen. 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, said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Amber
Wilkerson Marchand.
The bill, like a measure passed in the House on Nov. 7, would vastly reduce
the ranks of the uninsured by creating a system of tax credits for individuals
to purchase insurance. Individuals would be required to purchase health
insurance, which for those without employer-based coverage would be available in
state-based "exchanges" created by the bill.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would extend insurance
to 31 million Americans, resulting in 94% of Americans having insurance
coverage.
The cost of the measure would be offset through a variety of revenue-raising
provisions, including a tax on high-cost insurance plans, annual levies on
insurers, drug makers and medical device manufacturers and a cut in subsidies to
privately-run Medicare plans known as Medicare Advantage.
Republicans sought to cast the bill, which would make fundamental changes to a
sector that comprises one-sixth of the U.S. economy, as an undue intrusion by
the federal government.
"After the bailouts for Wall Street and Detroit, a stimulus bill that left us
with the highest unemployment in 26 years, and the Fed shoveling money out the
door without any accountability, people across the country have had enough,"
said Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) the top Republican on the Senate Finance
Committee.
The contentious public plan provision likely will take center stage in Senate
debate of the measure. Sens. Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Charles Schumer (D.,
N.Y.) and Landrieu are at work on a possible alternative to the public plan
provision, according to Reid.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R., Maine) viewed as a possible Republican vote for the
legislation, has sought a "trigger" that would put in place public plans in
states that did not have an affordable insurance plan available to enough of its
residents. Landrieu said that Snowe's proposal represented a "possible
compromise" on the public plan.
Carper has discussed an alternative to the public option that would create a
national nonprofit entity to administer a health insurance plan to states that
do not have a low-cost insurance option available to enough of its residents.
Snowe, who voted for a version of the legislation earlier this year in the
Senate Finance Committee, told reporters Saturday that she would seek to make
changes to Reid's bill. But she also said that she expected an "outreach effort"
from Senate Democrats and the White House to consider outside ideas.
"It's a question of whether or not they're willing to incorporate changes to
build bipartisan support," Snowe said. "I think it would be a sad commentary to
be engaged in this historic endeavor and for it to be passed along party lines."
But liberal senators appeared ready to fight to retain the proposed public
plan in its existing form. "Why shouldn't the American people have access to a
public option?" said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) pointing to existing
government programs such as Medicare and the health insurance for government
employees as "public options."
-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554; patrick.yoest@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-21-092136ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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