http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/88CE65BF6D0E1B8C86257694001538B0?OpenDocumentBY ROBERT PEAR AND DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
NEW YORK TIMES
12/22/2009
WASHINGTON — Even as the Senate took a significant step toward passing its version of a sweeping overhaul of the health insurance system before Christmas, Democrats were grappling Monday with deep internal divisions over abortion, the issue that most complicates their drive to merge the Senate and House bills and send final legislation to President Barack Obama.
In the House, advocates and opponents of abortion rights and conservative Democrats have made clear that they object, for different reasons, to the Senate's compromise language on abortion. Interest groups on both sides of the spectrum _ Planned Parenthood on the abortion rights side, Catholic bishops for the anti-abortion rights camp _ also oppose the abortion provision in the Senate bill, leaving Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a challenge in rounding up the votes she needs in the House.
Pelosi's room for maneuvering is limited because any changes to the language in the Senate bill could unravel the deal that gave Democrats the 60 votes they need to get the legislation through the Senate.
Pelosi, the Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and the White House will have to find a way forward on abortion even as they confront other big differences between the House and Senate bills, including how to pay to expand insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans and whether to include a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.
The Senate bill cleared a major hurdle early Monday, when the Senate voted 60-40, along party lines, to limit debate on the guts of its measure. Two more votes are set Tuesday. Calling it a "historic vote," Obama said, "The United States Senate knocked down a filibuster aimed at blocking a final vote on health care reform, and scored a big victory for the American people."
Senate Democrats got another lift on Monday when the American Medical Association endorsed their legislation, which embodies Obama's top domestic priority.
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