Outnumbered Republicans pledge to delay "train wreck of historic proportions" reform bill [View All]

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Sunday, Dec 20, 2009 13:18 EST
GOP pledges healthcare delay
Opposition threatens to stop "train wreck" reform bill
By Associated Press

Outnumbered Republicans are pledging to delay passage of historic health care legislation as long as possible after jubilant Democrats locked in Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson as the 60th and decisive vote.

Nelson's backing puts President Barack Obama's signature issue firmly on a path for Christmas Eve passage. Democrats will need to show 60 votes on two additional occasions, with the next -- and most critical -- test vote set for about 1 a.m. Monday.

"This bill is a legislative train wreck of historic proportions," the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said at a Saturday news conference. He pointed to cuts to Medicare that the Congressional Budget Office said totaled more than $470 billion over a decade, with reductions in planned payments to home health care agencies and hospices. He also said the bill includes "massive tax increases" at a time of double-digit unemployment.

A senior adviser to Obama criticized Republican senators on Sunday for trying to halt final action, saying the American people deserve a vote.

"The Republican party has spent a month engaged in parliamentary maneuvers and dilatory tactics to try and prevent a vote," David Axelrod, the Obama adviser, told ABC's "This Week."

http://www.salon.com/news/2009/12/20/us_health_care_overhaul_6/index.html