Morning News
From the Associated Press:
Jubilant Democrats are ready to push President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul past one last 60-vote hurdle to final Christmas Eve passage, and Republicans concede they’re powerless to stop it…
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs declared, "Health care reform is not a matter of if, health care reform now is a matter of when."
Obama himself said the Senate legislation accomplishes 95 percent of what he wanted. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill," the president told The Washington Post.
The third procedural vote comes Wednesday afternoon, when Democrats will have to put up 60 votes for the last time to cut off debate on the legislation. Democrats are also expected to turn back points of order raised against the bill by Republicans, including one questioning the constitutionality of requiring most every American to buy health insurance. Final passage on the sweeping bill, which will extend health coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans, is set for 8 a.m. Thursday, Christmas Eve….
From the Washington Post:
President Obama outlined Tuesday a first-year legislative record that he said rescued the economy and placed it on a path of long-term growth, even as he acknowledged that some unfinished items would probably be more difficult to achieve heading into a midterm election year.
In an Oval Office interview with The Washington Post, Obama rejected criticism that he has compromised too much to secure health-care reform or turned over too much authority to congressional leaders in pursuing his broad legislative agenda…
"Overall, if you had a checklist of promises made, a lot of those promises have been kept," Obama said. "When those things are complete, and I think they will be, we will have achieved a fundamental shift in health care, energy, education and our financial regulatory system that will put this economy on a firmer footing to grow over the long term…"
Although Obama noted in the interview that "the most important thing we did this year was to ensure that the financial system did not collapse," health-care reform dominated his agenda and will stand as at least one pillar of the legacy he leaves behind…
In the interview, Obama vigorously defended the legislation, saying he is "not just grudgingly supporting the bill. I am very enthusiastic about what we have achieved."
"Nowhere has there been a bigger gap between the perceptions of compromise and the realities of compromise than in the health-care bill," Obama said. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill."
In listing those priorities, he cited the 30 million uninsured Americans projected to receive coverage, estimated savings of more than trillion over the next two decades, a "patients’ bill of rights on steroids," and tax breaks to help small businesses pay for employee coverage…
From the New York Times:
…The assistant majority leader, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said Democrats would clear every procedural hurdle thrown at them by Republicans and complete work on the legislation.
“Thirty million Americans who currently don’t have health insurance have the peace of mind of knowing that they have health insurance,” Mr. Durbin said. He added, “This is a real debate over whether or not health care is going to be a right or a privilege in America.”
With that, the clerk called the roll.
The votes were all along party lines, with Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma absent, leaving the Republicans with 39 votes in opposition…
Party leaders announced an agreement on Tuesday afternoon to hold the final health care vote beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, allowing lawmakers to race to the airport to get home for Christmas.
Lawmakers were growing increasingly anxious about their holiday travel plans and family obligations.
“I have a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old who are convinced that Santa Claus can be in both Washington and Connecticut,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut. “That’s our latest challenge. I sent an e-mail to Santa.”
At the news conference after the votes, Democratic advocacy groups cheered and applauded as Mr. Reid, Mr. Dodd, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, entered the ornate Mansfield Room.
Mr. Reid, visibly relieved after securing the votes needed to complete the bill by Christmas, unfolded an elaborate baseball metaphor. He described Mr. Baucus as the speedy lead-off hitter, compared Mr. Dodd to Joe Morgan as the versatile No. 2 in the lineup, likened Mr. Harkin to Lou Gehrig batting third, and, in a rare moment of boastfulness, put himself in Babe Ruth’s cleanup spot.
But Mr. Reid quickly returned to modesty. “For me, for once in my life, I’m batting cleanup,” Mr. Reid said. “Because when I played baseball, I couldn’t bat cleanup. But by the time it got to me through Baucus, Dodd and Harkin, it was pretty easy.”
