Senate health care bill clears key hurdle

Democrats won a major victory in their push for health care reform early this morning as the Senate voted to end debate on a package of controversial revisions to a sweeping $871 billion bill.
The 60-40 party-line vote, cast shortly after 1 a.m., kept Senate Democrats on track to pass the bill on Christmas Eve. If it passes, the measure will then have to be merged with a roughly $1 trillion plan passed by the House of Representatives in November. Shortly after the vote, the Senate went into recess until noon today.

The vote left President Obama on the cusp of claiming victory on his top domestic priority and enacting the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid over four decades ago.

"Today, the Senate took another historic step toward our goal of delivering access to quality, affordable health care to all Americans," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said in a statement.

The bill will help "promote choice and competition to drive down skyrocketing health care costs for families ... all across America."

The vote was the first of three this week requiring Democrats to win the backing of 60 members -- enough to break a GOP filibuster. Final passage of the measure, in contrast, will require a simple majority in the 100-member chamber.

(Via CNN)