Reporting from Washington — Without a vote to spare, Democrats pushed their healthcare legislation over its first obstacle on the Senate floor Saturday, as the chamber voted to begin formal debate on a sweeping measure to guarantee medical coverage for nearly all Americans.
The 60-39 vote, backed by all 58 Democrats and two independents, overcame a Republican-led filibuster designed to block consideration of the bill and kept up momentum behind President Obama's top legislative priority.
Although it was only procedural, the dramatic balloting -- before a rare packed gallery on a Saturday night -- also set the stage for a much-anticipated healthcare debate that is expected to begin after Thanksgiving and consume the Senate for the remainder of the year.
"There is an emergency and it exists, and it exists now," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said just before the vote. "The right response to disagreement is not dismissal. It's discussion. . . . Let us debate our differences."
Democratic congressional leaders, who got a healthcare bill through the House two weeks ago, are laboring to move legislation through the Senate by Christmas so they can deliver on the president's top domestic priority by early next year.
Senate Democrats prevailed Saturday only after Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana announced that they would unite with their party. The two centrists from traditionally Republican states had been withholding their support for the procedural vote.
"It is more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation's healthcare system for all Americans, rather than just simply drop the issue and walk away," Lincoln said.
Not a single Republican backed the motion to proceed with the bill, which GOP lawmakers declared would pave the way for a government takeover of healthcare and drive up the national debt. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) missed the vote.
"We know that Americans oppose this bill," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said as debate got underway. "They certainly don't think it's what we need at a time when . . . one out of 10 working Americans is looking for a job."
The $848-billion measure that will now be laid before the full Senate is designed to expand coverage to an additional 31 million Americans over the next decade, while still restraining federal deficits and making the healthcare system more efficient and reliable for patients.
