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President Barack Obama’s mission to reform US healthcare vaulted another legislative hurdle over the weekend, but the scramble to secure his own party’s votes sheds light on the messy compromises that may be needed to get it to the finish line.

Despite Cloture Win, ObamaCare Still has a Long Way to Go to Become Reality - Step by Step #fullpost{display:inline;}Democrats succeeded tonight in winning the first cloture vote on the Senate Health Care Bill which allows it to move forward to a debate / amendment phase. But Martin Gold and Tom Curry spell out just how far "ObamaCare" has to go before it becomes a reality. It's a longer road than I understood, and than you may think: With the Senate having approved a motion to proceed to debate on the health insurance overhaul, legislation is still far from being signed...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Both of Virginia's U.S. senators say they will vote to allow debate on the Senate version of health-care overhaul legislation, but neither has committed to voting for the actual bill. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., got an earful on the subject from a group of small-business owners in Carytown yesterday while protesters rallied outside Warner and Sen. Jim Webb's Richmond offices. *break* Warner, who said he wants to see more cost containment in the Senate's legislation before he can support it, responded that he hasn't committed to vote for the bill. "If it doesn't improve, chances are...

Democrats Focus on G.O.P. Senators From Maine CARL HULSE November 22, 2009 WASHINGTON — Anxious about how little maneuvering room the weekend victory by Senate Democrats on health care provided, Obama administration officials and their Congressional allies are stepping up overtures to select Senate Republicans in hopes of winning their ultimate support. The two moderate Republican senators from Maine, Susan M. Collins and Olympia J. Snowe, both say Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, reached out to them after he unveiled the Senate measure, encouraging them to bring forward their ideas and concerns. Ms. Collins also received a personal visit...

The outcome of the health care reform legislation in the House demonstrates that while the Republicans don't have the votes to stop it, the Catholic Church has the votes to pass it. Could the same thing happen in the Senate? On Nov. 7, Catholic lobbyists working for the church's bishops finalized a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. An anti-abortion amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic Democrat, was offered and passed. The bishops then came down officially in favor of a bureaucratic plan that could spell the end to freedom of choice in health care. The turn of events...

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said Sunday that he will vote for landmark health care reform legislation even if it means he will be defeated at the polls next November. "If you get to the final point and you are a critical vote for health care reform, and every piece of evidence tells you, if you support that bill, you will lose your job, would you cast the vote and lose your job? " CNN's John King asked Bennet on the "State of the Union" program. "Yes," said Bennet, a former Denver public schools chief who was appointed to the Senate...

Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase. On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state. And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I am not going...

Well they did it. Not out in the open, of course. Under cover of a Saturday night "procedural vote." After the $100 million according to the press, $300 million according to her ("I am not going to be defensive. And it's not a $100 million fix. It is a $300 million fix,") Louisiana Purchase of Senator Mary Landrieu. Hundreds of millions of OUR dollars used to pay off the wavering Louisiana Senator in order to secure her vote. I don't have words for this. None that won't get me in trouble. I worked with a guy who once said to...

Fifty-one people -- nearly all illegal immigrants -- are facing a "life-or-death limbo" after a cash-strapped Atlanta charity hospital decided it must stop providing them free kidney dialysis treatments that were costing the hospital (or rather taxpayers) $50,000 per year. That's according to a heart-rending article in Saturday's New York Times about the “excruciating choices” faced by Atlanta's Grady hospital upon closing its outpatient dialysis unit. Over the years, the unit has been overrun by illegal immigrants, and it has thus become a major financial drain on the “taxpayer-supported safety-net hospital,” the Times explained in its lengthy article: "The Breaking...

The 2008 national election clearly shows our next generation of leaders must possess something that many recent and current elected officials lack: intellectual courage. President Nixon believed all leaders, regardless of their time, needed “brains, guts and heart.” Others have defined those character traits as “the right stuff.” “Given what is likely needed to right our ship of state, I don't think that it will come as a great surprise to many that our current men and women in the military are likely going to be the ‘right’ individuals for the job when they come home,” said Lara Brown, a...

Senate Democrats pushed ahead with President Barack Obama’s vision of health reform Saturday night – after a day that exposed significant divides in the party that could make it all but impossible to complete work on a plan by year’s end, or even sink the bill altogether. In a 60-39 vote on strictly partisan lines, the Senate sent the $848 billion health care bill to the floor for debate after the Thanksgiving break, but not before a clutch of moderates served notice that they couldn’t back the bill in its current form. One key provision – for a government-run insurance...

[T]oday let's focus on the damage the [Senate health care] bill would do to consumer-driven health plans—the kind that give individuals more control over their health dollars and insurance choices. The 2,074-page bill crushes them with malice-aforethought. ... Start with its attack on flexible spending accounts that are an important part of many employer plans. Flex accounts let employees set aside some portion of their pre-tax pay for out-of-pocket costs or medical services that their insurance plan doesn't cover, such as a child's orthodontics or testing supplies for diabetics. The Reid bill caps these now-unlimited accounts at $2,500 per year...

(McConnell: It's a 'Monstrosity of a Bill') (GOP: 'This Is Not True Health Care Reform') WASHINGTON (AP) -- Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare.The 60-39 vote cleared the way for a bruising, full-scale debate beginning after Thanksgiving on the legislation, which is designed to extend coverage to roughly 31 million who lack it, crack down on insurance company practices that deny or...

Did anyone else catch this? Just now on C-SPAN, Harry Reid quotes communist Andrei Sakharov in closing statement of Senate debate on socialist health care. Google: Andrei Sakharov OK granted, Sakharov was not a ranting Leninist but why wouldn't Harry quote a founder or an American patriot to make his simplistic, sophomoric point. O wait, Harry IS a ranting Leninist...

ON Fox News now, Vote is underway!!!

McCaskill still working toward goal of reading the healthcare bill By Jordan Fabian - 11/21/09 06:28 PM ET Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is still reading the 2,074-page Senate healthcare bill. McCaskill has promised to read the bill in its entirety before it comes up for the amendment and final voting process, which is expected to occur after Thanksgiving.The freshman sentor also read Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill in preparation for August's town hall. "The goal is to read the bill over the next few days and to be ready to do it after Thanksgiving," said McCaskill spokesperson...

Why was it so hard for Dems even to start health care debate? By: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent 11/21/09 6:43 PM EST The extraordinary thing about the dramatic events surrounding the health care bill in the Senate is that there is any drama in it at all. Lawmakers are simply voting to begin debate on their version of health care reform. Just begin debate -- not end it, and not move on to a final vote. If Democrats, with a 60-vote majority in the Senate, were not able to begin debate on the top Democratic policy priority in a...

Senator Landrieu and Senator Lincoln have announced they would give their vote to Senator Reid and the White House to allow ObamaCare to the Senate floor. For the group of U.S. Senators up in 2010 — the ones facing the independent voters that turned 2:1 against the Democrats in the New Jersey and Virginia elections — they will each be tagged all election cycle with providing the one vote needed for ObamaCare to come before the Senate. They could have stopped it, but they did not. The vote on cloture on the motion to proceed needs 60 votes, and therefore...

Sen. Mary Landrieu holds off on taking health care stand, while pressing for aid for Louisiana WASHINGTON (Nov. 20) -- Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., remained mum Thursday on whether she will deliver a crucial vote Saturday night to enable the Senate to debate health-care reform when it returns from the Thanksgiving holiday. But Landrieu has already succeeded in adding a provision to the 2,074-page Senate version of the health care bill unveiled this week that would provide Louisiana between $100 million and $300 million in Medicaid funding in fiscal 2011. "Look," said [Louisiana secretary of health and hospitals] Alan Levine,...

Under Leader Reid’s amendment, in the year 2019 about 16 million U.S. citizens would be uninsured and be forced to pay a penalty tax of almost $800 per year. About eight million illegal aliens would be uninsured and would owe no penalty tax. Both groups would get their health care through a combination of out-of-pocket spending and use of uncompensated care in emergency rooms and free health clinics. This seems unfair.

What will be the results of Election 2010

Read the Bill: Senate Version of ObamaCare Now Online Late Wednesday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) released his own version of a health care bill that if passed will raise taxes, increase premiums, cut Medicare and lead to health care rationing. It's imperative that freedom-loving Americans everywhere raise their voices in opposition to this bill. It truly represents a government takeover of health care. To be better informed for the battle ahead, read the entire bill (or at least skim over its 2,074 pages) here.

In response to Senator Lincoln's decision to vote in favor of cloture, Governor Palin tweets the following: Not sure I can convince Sen. Lincoln to vote no - but will do everything in my pwr to convince my friends in Arkansas to vote against her.,/u>,/b> Senator Lincoln is up for re-election in Arkansas in 2010. Only 29% of Arkansans support Obama's healthcare plan.

Democrats on Saturday clinched the votes needed to advance the Senate's version of President Obama's health care overhaul to the floor for a historic debate scheduled to begin shortly after 8 p.m..

Dems snare 60 votes to move ahead on health careBy ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders secured the last two votes to move ahead on historic health care legislation, clearing the way for a Saturday night showdown on President Barack Obama's top domestic initiative. In long-awaited speeches, centrist Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said they would stand with their party and vote "yes" on the crucial test vote despite deep reservations with elements of the 2,074-page bill to remake the nation's health care system. "The truth is this...

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said she’d deliver the deciding vote to push forward with a sweeping health reform plan in the Senate Saturday, ending days of speculation over whether President Barack Obama’s signature priority would proceed to the floor or suffer a debilitating blow. As with several centrists before her, Lincoln’s yes vote to start debate came wrapped in series of serious concerns about the current bill – and she said it would require major revisions before she could cast a similar vote in favor of final passage. "I'm prepared to vote against moving to the next stage of consideration...

I just heard Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La) speak live on the Senate floor, carried by Fox News. Fox reported last night that Obama & the White House cronies were trying to buy her off with $100 million for her State. Well, the price was right. She sold out; she's voting tonight to move the Senate Health Care Bill fwd. But, what do we expect from someone who's ancestors were friends of Huey "Kingfish" Long. The most corrupt politician in LA history. I just went to www.gradegov.com and gave her an "F" and sent a scathing e-mail along with it.

What's $100 million of taxpayer money between a few U.S. Senators? After reports surfaced, originally from ABC News, and subsequently commented upon by prominent lefties, like U.S. News and World Report's Bonnie Erbe as my colleague Noel Sheppard pointed out, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., took the Senate floor on Nov. 21 to announce she would vote in favor to proceed forward with the Senate Democratic leadership's health bill. But she also took time to respond to allegations that $100 million earmarked for the Louisiana was added to that legislation to sway her vote by referring to the likes of ABC...

An epic overhaul of the nation's healthcare system comes down to a single vote. POLITICO: Two Saturdays ago, Pelosi passed health reform on a squeaker of a House vote. Today, Reid can’t spare a single Democrat as the Senate decides whether to start debate. If not, President Barack Obama’s reform hopes suffer immeasurable harm. That said, things were looking good at daybreak, as Reid can be reasonably confident of 59 votes, with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) a yes vote and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) leaning yes. The holdout: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), who has been a fan of reform generally...

it's done folks...

Healthcare Bill Gains In U.S. Senate Test By REUTERS November 21, 2009 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A broad healthcare overhaul moved closer to clearing its first U.S. Senate hurdle on Saturday when one of two wavering Democrats said she would vote to begin debate on the landmark legislation. Senator Mary Landrieu ended days of uncertainty when she said she would support a procedural motion on Saturday to allow debate to begin on an overhaul the $2.5 trillion healthcare system -- the bill's first crucial test vote. The healthcare overhaul, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, would expand coverage to millions of...

Government run Health Care, rounding third and heading for home....(Video of Landrieu on the Senate floor)

We may have to put up with a congress that has some prostitutes, but let's at least call it what it is: Bribery..... I remember the old days when regular folks went to jail for such things on the radio: play my record I'll build you a pool....get caught and get fired.... But today we even practice reciprocal bribery: I give you 100 million, you throw me a fund raiser....my, my how we have grown..... And the real sweetner in this is that these criminals use OUR money to do the bribing......Bowow and Peeelosi bribe the house and Bowow and...

C-SPAN 2 is carrying the Senate floor debate live this afternoon.The Democrats control the floor right now. Earlier, Republican Senators Judd Gregg, Kit Bond, Jeff Sessions and David Vitter gave good speeches and dialogues on the budget-busting effects of ObamaCare.Maria Cantwell is speaking now. Mary Landrieu is excpected to speak shortly.The cloture vote is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST tonight.

The President’s popularity did not even last one year. He was a creation of the media and was accepted by the American people who were looking for a change from the policies of George W. Bush. However, the center-right country does not want hard core liberalism. This is a shocking fall from grace for the idol of Hollywood and the media. Obama has received more positive news coverage than any other President in history, yet the American people are seeing through the spin. More and more people are starting to recognize that Obama has a radical liberal agenda. While this...

One of the last three uncommitted Democrats, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said Friday he would vote to begin debate on the Senate's health care bill; meanwhile, the Republican opposition opened a new front, arguing that the legislation would lead to health care rationing. Mr. Nelson said he would support the procedural vote scheduled for Saturday night because he didn't want to obstruct reform efforts. He also said he hoped to improve the legislation on the floor.

This Saturday’s Senate vote on National health care for America looks likely to turn into a long, drawn-out bloodbath as all 40 of the Republicans in the chamber have vowed to filibuster the bill. Even moderate Republican Olympia Snowe has said she will participate in the fillibuster against Obamacare. Democrats need to only get 60 votes to proceed to debate, where they only need a majority to pass the bill. This will allow Democrat Senators vulnerable in their re-election 2010 bids a John-Kerry-esque “I voted for the bill before I voted against it” line of politicking, where they can vote...

Remember earlier this year when the new era of hope and change was ushered into Washington, D.C. and President Barack Obama made the statement on day one his policies would "represent a clean break from business as usual"? Not so fast says Charles Krauthammer, columnist for The Washington Post and Fox News regular. Krauthammer on the Nov. 20 broadcast of Fox News "Special Report with Bret Baier" explained that a certain provision put into to the Senate version of health care legislation to favor undecided Democratic senators, specifically Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., represents a different brand of politics from what...

Landrieu's Vote Will Reveal her integrity (or lack of): WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's health care bill has millions of dollars to help Louisiana finance Medicaid at a time when he is hoping that state's wavering Democratic senator will support overhaul legislation. The bill provides at least $100 million for Louisiana in extra funds for Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor. Louisiana's Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, has said she is undecided about the Democratic health care package. Reid needs the votes of all 60 Democratic senators for the Senate debate to begin.

With the introduction of Harry Reid's health care bill - talk will inevitably focus on whether the public option or the Stupak amendment will undermine the legislation. Yet, if the bill dies, I do not think either of these will be the primary cause of death. I think this will be the culprit: (See chart in link) This is the CBO's analysis of how the Reid bill will cut Medicare. The total reductions come out to $491 billion over 10 years when everything is factored in. The following has been said by other commentators, but I have to add my...

So, I guess Mr. Jackson thinks it's health-care holding down the black man this time...Just yesterday he said "can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man," and then he goes on to proclaim "Among the black and the poor, the infant mortality rate is higher, life expectancy is shorter, poverty is growing and unemployment is highest," he said. Well hell yeah, if you are pregnant and do crack, your babies die; if you live in the hood - you get shot; if you don't finish high school and get a college education you can expect poverty in...

. . . phone calls are not going through at all now. Try calling my phone or any phone. It is not even the switchboard anymore. The entire Senate phone system has collapsed. Keep melting the phones!

We need to peel off one Democrat to kill this thing. For those of you glued to your laptops when the abortion known as PelosiCare was passed a couple of weeks ago, this Saturday's fight in the Senate will consist of 10 hours of debate, which were won by Republicans in return for their not having the entire bill read on the floor. According to Roll Call (subscription required, but the snippet is there), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will join the other 39 Republicans in the filibuster. The first vote is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., so, if my math is correct,...

Just called my Senators, Lemieux and Bill Nelson Re: healthcare. Lemieux will vote no and Nelson's office says he has not decided. Keep calling.

Just in time for Thanksgiv ing, Sen. Harry Reid has given us a giant turkey of a health-care bill. At 2,074 pages and more than 370,000 words, it's officially "scored" as costing $849 billion over 10 years -- $400 million per page, or $2.3 million per word. But that doesn't come close to measuring its true cost. The bill uses various accounting gimmicks to hide its true cost. For example the bill doesn't include more than $200 billion needed to prevent a 21 percent cut in Medicare next year. [The CBO "score" actually assumes Reid cuts Medicare 23 percent --...

I just got off the phone with Sen. Bill Nelson's office. He still on the fence regarding the trillion dollar plus 2,074 page Harry Reid's healthcare bill. Please, please call one of his offices and let his staff know that our country cannot afford to add another trillion dollars to our already $1.6 trillion dollar budget deficit. Office telephone numbers: Washington 202-224-6551 Omaha 402-391-3411 Lincoln 402-441-4600

Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson announced today that he is going to vote with his party to move the debate forward. *snip* “It is only to begin debate and an opportunity to make improvements. If you don't like a bill, why block your own opportunity to amend it? “As we have seen before, obstructionists are inviting a move toward reconciliation by opposing this first procedural vote. Let's be clear. That route shrinks debate and amendments, eliminates bipartisanship and needs only 50 votes to pass a bill.

DC Activists: Mobilize on Nov. 23! From 12-1pm on Monday November 23, join NOW activists from the mid-Atlantic region as they campaign outside the Senate office buildings against the Stupak Amendment. Nearest metro station is Union Station. We'll be meeting at Constitution Avenue, on the block in front of Russell and the corner of Constitution and Delaware. View map

Remember it for your grandchildren: Saturday, November 21, 2009—the day of the Transformation of America. That’s the day Global Marxism will begin its inexorable march to take down the Free World, starting with its leader the United States of America. There will be no shots fired, but the aim of the U.S. Senate’s poison arrow is right on target at the heart of humanity. While America’s Marxist President is abroad, Senate Majority House Leader Harry Reid is tying the red ribbon bow on his Christmas present, the Transformation, and Take Down of the United States of America. “Senate Majority...