Obama Lauds 'Big Victory'

President Obama said that the Senate's progress toward passing a health-care bill is “a big victory for the American people.” He disputed Republican criticism that the bill would increase the federal deficit, saying that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had found it would reduce the deficit by $132 billion over 10 years. The Senate will hold several more procedural votes this week, with a final vote Christmas Eve. If it passes, as expected, it will be merged with the House version of the bill, voted on again, and then sent to the president to sign, which Obama hopes will happen before his State of the Union address.