The Senate has begun voting on whether to move ahead on a sweeping health care bill.
A bruising debate on health care awaits the Senate after Thanksgiving now that the historic legislation has cleared a key hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.
In a show of unity, Senate Democrats sealed a 60-vote majority needed to advance health care legislation Saturday ahead of an evening showdown with Republicans eager to doom the bill and inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.
The 60-39 roll call Saturday by which the Senate voted to advance a measure overhauling health care to a full debate.
Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is a "yes" in a crucial weekend test vote on health care.
A look at key issues in the health care debate:
This city did not wait for Washington's health care overhaul. Most uninsured adults here are already reaping the benefits of a government-run health care program - seeing doctors, filling prescriptions, and getting surgeries they could not otherwise afford.
The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
The Senate Democratic leader says Congress is closer than ever to overhauling the nation's health care system.
The Senate will hold its first vote on health care legislation on Saturday night and Democrats will need 60 votes to prevail.
A look at key issues in the health care debate:
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is backing off his threat to require that the Senate read the 2,074-page health care bill because some GOP colleagues aren't supporting the effort.
Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana.
The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has included at least $100 million in Medicaid funds for Louisiana in his health care bill at the same time he is trying to persuade that state's wavering Democratic senator to cast a pivotal vote for the overhaul legislation.
The political stakes enormous, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid briefed crucial moderate Democrats before unveiling long-awaited legislation Wednesday to remake the nation's health care system.
Congressional budget crunchers said Thurday the Democrats' latest health care plan would hold down federal red ink for at least 20 years, an assessment that gave supporters hope as the Senate moved gingerly toward a historic debate.
A look at key issues in the health care debate:
A look at key issues in the health care debate:
It's the cost, Mr. President. Americans are worried about hidden costs in the fine print of health care overhaul legislation, an Associated Press poll says. That's creating new challenges for President Barack Obama as he tries to close the deal with a handful of Democratic doubters in the Senate.
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