Early this morning the Senate health care reform bill passed its first cloture vote.
Moments ago, the Senate voted 60-40 to end the Republican filibuster of the manager’s amendment to the Senate health care bill, clearing an important hurdle to passing health care reform before the end of the year.
The Senators voted from their desks — a customary practice reserved for the most significant votes. Once the presiding president read the final tally, Democrats rushed over to congratulate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
This bill “acknowledges finally that health care is a fundamental right,” Reid said before the vote. It’s “a human right, not just a privilege for the most fortunate.” Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) insisted that “this is not the end of health care reform. It’s the beginning. But we must make this beginning in order to fulfill that dream and really make health care a right, not a privilege.”
Olympia Snowe voted no along with all the other Republicans. I guess history wasn’t calling this time? The bill passed despite Senator Coburn’s call to God.
Speaking against the health care bill on the Senate floor just moments ago, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) expressed his hope that a Senator of the majority caucus would not be able to make the vote:
What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray.
You stay classy there Senator Coburn!
Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) gave an excellent smackdown of the GOP lying tactics:
“All to break the momentum of our new young president. They are desparate to break the president. The birthers, the militias, the lifers— it is unbearable to them for the presidency of Barack Obama to exist.”
The bill is on track to pass on Christmas Eve. The remaining schedule:
The Senate will vote on Tuesday, December 22nd at 7am to adopt the amendment and will hold another cloture vote on the Reid substitute — the Senate’s version of the health care bill. On Wednesday December 23 at 1pm, the Senate will vote to adopt the substitute and to invoke cloture on the underlining bill. A final vote on the Senate bill is scheduled for Thursday, December 24th at 7pm. It requires a simple majority.
So there are two more cloture votes (needing 60 votes) and one final vote (needing 51 votes). After the bill passes the Senate it goes to the House-Senate conference. There will be changes in the bill, hopefully the Senate bill will adopt some of the better subsidies and then both the House and the Senate will vote again. The conference report can be filibustered so the Senate needs 60 votes to pass the final bill.