December 21st, 2009

Philadelphia Inq report:

With 60 on their side, Democrats have just enough to end a filibuster. More wrangling lies ahead.

WASHINGTON – The Senate was poised late yesterday to take a giant step closer to enacting a sweeping health-care bill – a watershed moment that finally has united a fractious Democratic majority after months of debate over President Obama’s promise to provide universal health-care coverage.

The move to break a Republican filibuster, which required winning the votes of all 60 members of the Democratic caucus in a dramatic vote scheduled for 1 o’clock this morning, capped months of work by Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.). They personally forged politically necessary compromises on big issues such as abortion and taxes, as well as parochial deals for favored states and industries.

Striking the death knell for Obama’s hope for at least token bipartisan support, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, the one Republican who even considered supporting the bill, yesterday announced she opposed it.

“I deeply regret that I cannot support the pending Senate legislation as it currently stands, given my continued concerns with the measure and an artificial and arbitrary deadline of completing the bill before Christmas that is shortchanging the process on this monumental and transgenerational effort,” she said.

Her Maine colleague, Republican Susan Collins, also announced her opposition.

Click here to read full article