Ab-Titchaz
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 30, 2008
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Senate Passes Health care Bill 60 - 39
WASHINGTON (AP)-- Senate Democrats are poised to pass a landmark health care bill that could define President Barack Obama's legacy and usher in near-universal medical coverage for the first time in the country's history.
Ahead lie complex talks with the House to reach final legislation in the new year.
"We stand on the doorstep of history," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We recognize that, but much more importantly, we stand so close to making so many individual lives better."
After 24 consecutive days of debate -- the second-longest such stretch ever -- the final vote on the Democrats' 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill is set for early Thursday, Christmas Eve morning. It will be the Senate's first Christmas Eve vote since 1895, when the matter at hand was a military affairs bill concerning employment of former Confederate officers, according to the Senate Historical Office.
Democrats have demonstrated their hard-won unity by clearing three 60-vote procedural hurdles this week, the last one Wednesday afternoon, with all 58 Democrats and two independents holding together against unanimous GOP opposition.
Final passage, requiring a simple majority, is assured. The House passed its own measure in November. The White House and Congress have now come further toward the goal of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's health care system than any of their predecessors.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/senate-passes-health-care_n_402802.html