Senate Democrats’ health overhaul bill passes tough test in party-line vote

[cal04]

Source: MSNBC

Senate Democrats’ health care overhaul passed a key test in a party-line vote early Monday, in a dramatic defeat for Republicans that put the legislation on track for Christmas-week passage.

In the run-up to the vote, the escalation in rhetoric was remarkable on both sides of an issue that has divided the two political parties for months.

"This process is not legislation. This process is corruption," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., referring to the last-minute flurry of dealmaking that enabled Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the White House to lock in the 60 votes needed to approve the legislation.

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island responded in near-Biblical terms. In a speech on the Senate floor, he said Republicans are embarked on a "no-holds barred mission of propaganda, obstruction and fear. ... There will be a reckoning. There will come a day of judgment about who was telling the truth."

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34498942/ns/politics-health_care_reform/

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Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/us/21vote.html?_r=1&hp

[Unvanguard]

1. 60-40. Every Democrat against every Republican.

I know which side I am on.

[Frances]

2. Me too

[Ozymanithrax]

4. My hat is off to the Ladies, Gentlemen, and Lieberman...

They stood up to the kill bill conservative tyrants pushing to destroy any chance of health care reform. They stood up to the Health Insurance Industry who have paid big money to make sure no reform is passed. They even stood up to the left, who out of the best of intentions called for the bill to be summarily executed by circular firing squad.

I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I drink dos Equis. I lift one to you. Stay thirsty my friends.

If beer is not to your taste, a glass of Chinaco Anejo.

[dave29]

23. You are the most interesting DUer in the world ;)

:toast:

[bushalert]

34. Congrats To The Dems!!!!

This bill is FAR from perfect, but it is a GIANT step towards eventual single payer. It may take another decade, but we will get there!!!!! Again, hats off to the Dems.

[Mithreal]

24. and the winners write the history

[MindPilot]

36. "They even stood up to the left"

Yep, there you have it, Democrats doing what Democrats seem to do best; making sure nothing progressive ever happens.

I don't always feel abandoned by my party, but when I do, I drink Coors Light.

[Ozymanithrax]

48. My hat is off to you, mind pilot...

We disagree on this point, but there are many over which we can have a meeting of the minds.

But Coors Light... I'd rather drink Rocky Mountain Panther Piss. Ahh, but that is Coors Light.

[MindPilot]

50. I'm sure there are!

And sometimes I just like a nice cold can of alcohol-flavored fizzy water.

My girlfriend sent me the link to your post asking "who is this person?" She thought I might be posting under a different name--you know like living vicariously though myself--since I'm from San Diego, I frequently paraphrase the XX tag-line to suit the situation at hand, Ben Franklin is my favorite founding father (in fact I kind of look like him, or will in about another ten or fifteen years and I own a talking Ben Franklin doll!) and it is a rarity that there is not at least one bottle of Chinaco Anejo in my bar.

[Ozymanithrax]

51. Chinaco Anejo I borrowed from bartcop. It is delicious...

I, too, and from San Diego, but I look like my grandfather.

[Demit]

52. Coors Light. Isn't that redundant?

[bemildred]

32. About f**king time too. nt

[rwheeler31]

3. Gotta love it, the world we are a changing.

[onehandle]

5. Good. This is the first step. Oh, and...

Fuck you, teabaggers.

[Tx4obama]

6. Great news! And a great foundation to be built upon in the future! n/t

[tylerdee]

7. Health Bill PASSES Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — After a long day of acid, partisan debate, Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

The vote was 60 to 40

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/us/21vote.html

[jefferson_dem]

8. Great news!

:patriot:

[ccharles000]

9. k/r

[onehandle]

10. Good. This is the first step. Oh, and...

Fuck you, teabaggers.

[rwheeler31]

11. Good job Democrats.

[New Dawn]

12. I can hear the "health" insurance companies' CEOs cheering.

They know that this bill will make themselves even more disgustingly rich than they already are (at our expense).

[girl gone mad]

18. yep.

[maryinthemorn]

28. It's their Christmas present to themselves.

[ixion]

19. exactly... all hail the Insurance Company Profit Protection Act

:argh:

[wordpix]

53. it needs an acronym: IC-Profit Act? (as in, ICK)

[alp227]

20. It's "hell" care

Because the bill has been unduly influenced by health care industry apologists, those who profit off innocent citizens' bad health will see red upon death.

[Ozymanithrax]

13. Democrats stood up to the Health Insurance CEO's, Republicans, and even the left...

They have done the right thing.

[No Elephants]

35. You've got to be kidding. The Health Insurance Industry wrote the damned bill.

And the stock of health insurers went up and up. Friday, it reach a 52 week high. Does that sound to you like anyone stood up to the health insurers?

[WriteDown]

38. All hail Romney-care!!!!!

You're kidding right?

[BP2]

14. Woo-hoo. It's the best WIN-WIN scenario for BOTH

Big Pharma and Big Insurance

[Wardoc]

25. LOL! Agree w/ya. But for some of these others here, long as the guys are wearing the team...

...colors the actual content doesn't matter.

[Tx4obama]

15. Great news! And a great foundation to be built upon in the future! n/t

[WriteDown]

40. What foundation are you talking about? The jail or the fines...

for not having mandated coverage?

[Kind of Blue]

16. KnR. n/t

[Mithreal]

17. vive la corporation

[clear eye]

21. "far-reaching overhaul" my foot. n/t

[JDPriestly]

22. Whitehouse's speech was great.

But the sorry truth is that the bill is so bad that the Republicans will win the perception battle.

The bill will do some good, but the bad it will do will anger a lot of voters.

I'm a life-long Democrat. I work hard at a grass-roots level to get Democrats elected. I support my congressman.

So, it troubles me greatly that Democrats were unable to get a better bill. It troubles me even more to realize that the reason that the bill is weak is that Obama and his team are inexperienced when it comes to persuading senators like Lieberman to what is best for their constituents.

It seems strange to me that the Democrats obviously bought the votes from the states of, for example, Louisiana and Nebraska and gave special favors to states like Massachusetts and Vermont in exchange for getting such a weak bill passed.

This bill is a slap in the face to us progressives.

[RBInMaine]

26. PISS on the scumbag RePUKES ! Whitehouse's speech was AWESOME and right on target !

[blackbear79]

31. And piss on Maine and 45 other states.

I'm sorry but as a Mainer this pisses me off. Nebraska, Louisiana, Vermont and Massachusetts are getting more federal help paying for a proposed Medicaid expansion than other states are. In the case of Nebraska — represented by Sen. Ben Nelson, who's providing the critical 60th vote for the legislation to pass — the federal government is picking up 100 percent of the tab for the expansion, in perpetuity.

I know deal making is part of the process, but this is armed robbery at most of the country's expense. If this is the change I voted for then I voted wrong.

Howard Dean 2012.

[RBInMaine]

27. Imperfect bill, but GOOD !! It is a START to build upon. PISS on the RePUKES !

[WriteDown]

41. What is this foundation you keep talking about?

You a fan of Romney-care?

[toopers]

29. Let's see, 10 years of payments gets us 6 years of service . . .

That sounds like a great deal. I wish I could run my business that way. This bill is horrible. Not only is it so watered down, but it also is not financially sound. I hope the final bill will require the politicians to use the exact same system we do, but don't hold your breath.

[groundloop]

30. It ain't over 'till it's over....

Let's keep pushing for the public option in the final version. This bill is weak, but I've got a gut feeling the final bill will be much closer to what the house passed. At the very least (and perhaps the very most) this keeps to process moving forward, and I pray that sanity will prevail in the committee that combines the house and senate bills

[harun]

33. Yah, they could still get the good stuff from the House version in there.

[No Elephants]

37. I hope so. I will be calling my Rep. and Sens today.

[wordpix]

54. everyone should call - my problem: one of my senators is Lieberlieman

[blackbear79]

39. In the words of Steven Tyler..."Dream on"

It took every thing they had to get Senate "piece of shit" bill to this point. There will not be any significant changes. Insurance Companies and Pharmaceuticals will be working 24/7. If Obama had taken leadership from the beginning instead of abdicating responsibility we might be in a looking at real reform. He had a mandate. It seems that "man date" was playing golf with the CEO of United Health Care.

Howard Dean 2012

[superconnected]

42. Senate Dems clear hurdle on health care

Source: Yahoo News

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats won a crucial test vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, putting them on track for passage before Christmas of the historic legislation to remake the nation's medical system and cover 30 million uninsured.

All 58 Democrats and the Senate's two independents held together early Monday against unanimous Republican opposition, providing the exact 60-40 margin needed to shut down a threatened GOP filibuster.

The vote came shortly after 1 a.m. with the nation's capital blanketed in snow, the unusual timing made necessary in order to get to a final vote by Christmas Eve presuming Republicans stretch out the debate as much as the rules allow. Despite the late hour and a harshly partisan atmosphere, Democrats' spirits were high.

"Today we are closer than we've ever been to making Sen. Ted Kennedy's dream of universal health insurance coverage a reality," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said ahead of the vote, alluding to the late Massachusetts senator who died of brain cancer in August.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_overhaul

[superconnected]

43. The last paragraph says a whole lot to me:

"Reid cut numerous last-minute deals to get the votes he needed and powerful Democrats also inserted home-state provisions in a 383-page package of amendments Reid filed this weekend to the 2,074-page bill"

[yellowcanine]

44. Pundits and Repubs are tsk tsking about passing the bill "in the middle of the night"

If the Republicans had not engaged in all of their delaying tactics this could have been a done deal much earlier. I spit on their self righteous yammering.

[superconnected]

46. I still haven't gotten over that secret sessesion they had a few years back and voted things down

without giving the dems the chance to be there. Those hypocrites don't have anything to stand on after that.

[bemildred]

45. Sort of like the Patriot Act IIRC. nt

[superconnected]

47. Like that, but the GOP had one where the dems didn't know about until

after and weren't invited too, right before Christmas a few years back. I'm trying to remember what that one was on. It was a big deal here at DU at the time.

[riskpeace]

49. The subsidies open up the whole industry to reconciliation process

In my opinion, the subsidies from the federal government to buy private health insurance through the exchanges are very important. It seems once the feds are paying a portion of the premium for many Americans, then all legislation about the insurance industry, including a possible establishment of a public option or single payer, would be subject to reconciliation because of its impact on the budget. If the feds are paying part of the premium, then the amount and composition of the premium have a direct link to the federal budget.