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Healthcare bill passes first US Senate test
The Democratic victory was assured earlier in the day when the party’s last two holdouts, Blanche Lincoln and Mary Landrieu, said they would support the motion but would not commit to backing the final bill without changes. “I believe that it is more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation’s healthcare system for all Americans rather than just simply drop the issue and walk away,” Lincoln said in a speech hours before the vote.
The Senate debate will begin on Nov. 30 and is expected to last at least three weeks. The House of Representatives has passed its own version, and differences in the two would have to be reconciled in January before Obama could sign a final measure. The healthcare reform bill would expand coverage to millions of uninsured and bar insurance practices like denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
The legislation would spark the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion healthcare system -- which accounts for one-sixth of the US economy -- since the 1965 creation of the Medicare government health insurance plan for the elderly. The stakes are high for Obama, with his political standing and legislative agenda on the line less than a year into his first term.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama was gratified by the Senate vote and “looks forward to a thorough and productive debate.” Republicans condemned the bill as a costly government intrusion in the private sector that would raise insurance premiums, reduce consumer choices and raise taxes.
Debate under way
“The healthcare debate is now officially under way on this 2,074 page, multi-trillion-dollar health care experiment,” said Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who vowed to use whatever means he could to delay or block the legislation. He said the final Democratic holdouts had to “twist themselves into a pretzel” to justify voting to move ahead on the bill. Almost all Senate bills that clear the first hurdle eventually pass, he said.
“The easiest time to change this bill, if you were serious about it, is right now,” McConnell told reporters. “The time of maximum leverage would have been before tonight’s vote.” But Landrieu and Lincoln, moderates from conservative Southern states where the overhaul is unpopular, said they simply wanted the debate to begin. Lincoln said she opposed the government-run insurance option included in the bill.
Landrieu said she wanted changes to make healthcare more affordable, ease the burden on small businesses and rein in the growth of costs. “There are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward, but much more work needs to be done before I can support this effort,” she said.
Landrieu and Lincoln had been showered with attention by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and Obama administration officials as they pondered their vote. In her floor speech, Landrieu defended her successful effort to win more funds in the bill for Medicaid, the government health program for the poor, for her home state of Louisiana. “I am proud to have fought for it. I will continue to. But that is not the reason I am moving to debate,” she said.
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