Udall, Bingaman vote to pass health care bill

After months of debate and discussion, the United States Senate has passed a health care bill on a 60-39 vote. No Republicans voted for the bill, while no Democrats voted against the bill. The vote on the bill was the first Christmas Eve vote since 1895.

Both Senators from New Mexico, Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman, voted for the legislation. Both are Democrats.

“Americans have waited generations for health care reform and, with this legislation, we establish a strong foundation for us to build upon moving forward,” Udall said in a statement moments after the vote. “This bill provides stability and security to those who have insurance, extends coverage to those who don’t, and lowers costs for families, businesses and governments across the country.”

“We are closer than we have ever been to fixing our nation’s broken health care system.  The bill the Senate has approved would be of great benefit to New Mexicans, many of whom cannot keep up with rising health care premium costs.  In addition to reining in costs, the bill extends coverage to New Mexicans who right now don’t have access to health care,” Bingaman said.  “I worked hard to help write a bill that would benefit New Mexico and our entire country, and I am glad we are a step closer to enacting reform.”

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said that “Scrooge would be proud” of  the bill and that “This Christmas, the Democrats and President Obama have given America the one gift that keeps on taking.”

The Washington Independent outlined some of the dilutions that were needed to have the bill reach 60 votes in the procedural votes which preceded the final Christmas Eve vote.

For the Democratic faithful, that unification came at a price. To secure 60 votes, party leaders had to bow to the demands of two caucus moderates — Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) — who were threatening to join a Republican filibuster otherwise. With no margin for desertions, Democratic leaders were forced to concede several of their legislative priorities in the process. To win Lieberman, they dropped their plans to create a public option to compete with private companies — a program that many liberal policy experts consider vital for controlling rising premium costs — and to lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 55. For Nelson, they tacked on language restricting abortion coverage under subsidized plans operating on newly proposed insurance marketplaces, called exchanges. That provision has been roundly attacked by reproductive rights groups, who argue that it will restrict women’s access to comprehensive health services.

While previous procedural votes had needed 60 votes to pass because of the threat of Republican filibusters, Thursday morning’s vote was on the bill itself and needed only a simple majority to pass.

The early morning Christmas Eve vote was presided over by Vice President Joe Biden.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., was the only Senator not to vote.

The House passed its version of a health care reform bill in earlly November. Now the two different pieces of legislation will need to be combined into a final bill for both chambers to vote on. Then the bill will head to President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed into law.

Some House progressives have been critical of the Senate version of the bill, calling it a victory for the insurance companies at the expense of regular Americans, foreshadowing difficult negotiations between the two chambers.

Immediately after the vote on health care, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling by $290 billion to $12.4 trillion. That vote, also a 60-39 vote, needed 60 votes to pass.