Senate Chooses Poorly

The Senate finishes the job of putting coal in the stockings of the American people:

At 7:16 a.m., the Senate passed on a 60-39 party line vote a sweeping health care bill that will tighten insurance regulations, provide insurance for 31 million more Americans and cost $871 billion over the next decade.

"This is for my friend Ted Kennedy, aye," said Sen. Robert Byrd as he cast his vote.

Clearly exhausted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid mistakenly voted no before changing his vote to yes, which got a laugh in the chamber, especially from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

After the vote, Reid joked, "I spent a very restless night last night trying to figure out how I could show some bipartisanship and I think I was able to accomplish that for a few minutes."

Senate Republican Jim Bunning was absent for the vote.

With Vice President Joe Biden presiding over the session, Democrats gathered in the chamber before sunrise on the day before Christmas to cast a vote long in coming but in the end, hardly a surprise, a 60-39 tally that was the fourth time in as many days that Democrats proved they could muster the winning margin.

Reid opened the Senate floor at 7 a.m. and channeled Ted Kennedy: “The work goes on. The cause endures… and yet here we are, minutes away from doing what others have tried but none have achieved.”

Republican leader Mitch McConnell responded: “This fight isn’t over. My colleagues and I will work to stop this bill from becoming law. That’s the clear will of the American people — and we’re going to continue to fight on their behalf.”

Thankfully, it's far from over. The House Dems have not shown a willingness to roll over and accept the Senate's deal, Obama is apparently putting off work on health care until February (because of the jobs situation), and now the voters will have a chance to go after their representatives at home.

This can still be stopped.

UPDATE: I like this - Sen. Jim DeMint has objected to the appointment of members to a House/Senate conference committee. What does that mean? It means the House must either approve the Senate version of the bill as is, or they must make their own amendments which would then go back to the Senate upon approval. This could actually kill the bill unless the progressives and anti-abortion Democrats are willing to completely abandon their principles (they're Democrats so it could happen). Read the post I linked to for more details.