Health Wars

Will Dems Miss Xmas Deadline?

Vote by Christmas in doubt as GOP stalls.

With Democrats hammering out a compromise and Republicans using every trick in the book to stall legislation, Christmas may come and go without a Senate vote on proposed health-care legislation, despite the self-imposed deadline by Majority Leader Harry Reid. Republican senators demonstrated a willingness to do whatever it takes to delay a vote today, demanding that the Senate clerk read a 767-page amendment in its entirety, while conservative Democrat Ben Nelson avoided making any firm pronouncements about his support of the bill. The Democrats hope to pass a bill by Christmas so that a final version can be delivered to President Obama by the State of the Union address—and so that they can move on to other legislative priorities. Republicans remained unapologetic: "We want to do what we can to defeat the bill," said Senator John Thune of South Dakota.