In the cold and windy early morning hours the U.S. Senate voted to pass a cloture motion on the new amendments in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, H.R. 3590 by a 60-40 vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and the other key senators involved in the legislation had just introduced the Manager's Amendment over the weekend (see DM 11056). Today's vote took place just after 1:00 a.m. The vote went straight down party lines with all Democrats and two independents voting yea, including the contentious senators Joseph Lieberman (see DM 10992) and Ben Nelson (D-NE). No Republicans voted for the passage.

The successful motion for cloture allows for a vote without a Republican filibuster which could have delayed or even prevented a vote. There should be as many as three more votes on the bill before a vote on final passage, including a likely tentative vote on Christmas Eve. Should the bill pass, the next step is negotiations with the U.S. House of Representatives over a final version of the bill to go the president.

On the floor, as reported by the Senate Democrats' floor calendar, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) stated, "This is the vote to make health care a right. If you believe it is a privilege, you don't have to vote for this. We believe health care is a fundamental right."

Harry Reid then stated, "All over this country, people are dying too soon. The medical records will show that they died of complications, but the truth is that they died because they lacked the necessary insurance. Every 10 minutes another American dies due to lack of health insurance. Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in America. This bill protects patients and consumers and greatly reduces our debt. This makes it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to children because of a preexisting condition. This bill closes the 'donut' hole...premiums are reduced. This bill will lower the deficit."

But the vote had harsh critics such as Senator McConnell, who stated, "The bill we are voting on tonight will impact everyone in America. Make no mistake, if the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, we wouldn't be voting in the dead of night. $1 million for an unnamed health care facility in the U.S. No one will claim it. One state in 50 will not have to pay for Medicaid expansion, but the rest of the states will have to pick up the tab. No one imagined this is how this would end--a couple of cheap deals and a vote in the dead of the night."

Later on today the Senate is slated to resume consideration of the bill and resume post-cloture debate on the amendments.

Read more on DOTmed:

Senate Democrats Introduce Manager's Amendment to Health Reform Bill
www.dotmed.com/news/story/11056

Medicare Provision in Peril in Reform Bill
www.dotmed.com/news/story/10992

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