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Sen. Majority Leadery Harry Reid (D-NV) (PD)
In a less theatrical but more hyperbolic reprise of the House debate pre-passage of the health insurance reform bill, the Senate voted 60-39 in favor of the Cloture motion (to begin debate) on the Senate version of health insurance reform. This was the first of two crucial votes in order for the Democrats to pass health insurance reform. The second will be the second cloture motion to close debate, which would also need 60 votes. In order to pass the bill, only 50 votes would be needed.
Since Senators typically take twenty minutes or so to speak, as opposed to House members maybe getting three minutes, the hyperbole was flying all over the Senate chamber this evening. Surprisingly, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was the first to come out strong against the bill, spitting out the usual “government takeover” theme, and quoting the made-up number of “$2.5 trillion” that the Senate Republicans have decided that the health insurance reform bill would cost. (As written this past week, the CBO said it would cost about a third of that.)
Then Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) decided to abandon his “work together in the name of bi-partisanship” theme that he displayed this past summer, and went back to the “death panels for Grandma” stance he was using during the town hall season. This was followed up by everything but “the terrorists will get you if you let this bill hit the floor” by the GOP's best hit men, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and the closer, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
In a surprisingly strong supportive statement, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) came out pleading for debate, calling the bill “important” and “historic” in a very impassioned speech which flew in the face of his Senate Finance Committee which passed a bill without a Public Option earlier this summer. The Democrats closed with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) referencing the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) in a heart-felt speech, and a surprisingly strong statement from the normally timid-appearing Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) who, beyond the “right side of history” rhetoric, also called Republicans on the carpet for trying to quash what this procedural vote actually was, to debate the actual bill, not pass the bill itself.
He called Republicans on the carpet for double-speak in interviews on television this past week, and intentionally disseminating misleading, untrue, or simply imaginary information, and passing it on to the public as truth. Sens. Reid and Baucus both really came up big tonight, and demonstrated a passion for health insurance reform that really hasn't been demonstrated to this point.
The final tally was 60-39, completely down party lines, with both Maine Senators (Collins, Snowe) voting nay, and Sens. Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson (NE) and Lieberman all voting aye. Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) did not vote.
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