Senate leader eyes key Monday vote on health bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is still looking for the support he needs to launch a procedural endgame that would set up a first and decisive healthcare cloture vote early Monday and still allow passage by Christmas Eve.

The Senate is on pace for a cloture vote on the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations bill by early Friday morning. Final passage could then come Saturday morning. Democrats still hope the political difficulty of slowing the defense bill and the prospect of a vote in the wee hours will cause Republicans to yield back time.

"Are we really going to wait until tomorrow, Friday, or later to pass it?" Reid asked on the Senate floor. "That is simply not right. Let's give our troops what they need to succeed, and then let's get back to giving all Americans what they need to stay healthy."

After passage of the defense bill, which is complicated by the need to pick up at least one GOP vote after an announcement Thursday by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., confirming his opposition, Reid is expected to immediately file three cloture motions on the healthcare bill.

Reid would also offer Saturday the manager's amendment and "fill the tree" blocking further amendments, according to a timeline prepared by the office of Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

That would set up the key vote on health care as early as Monday morning, aides from both parties said. A second cloture vote would likely come Tuesday and the final cloture vote Wednesday. A Democratic aide said the majority hopes that if the initial cloture measure passes, Republicans will recognize "the game is up" and allow the Senate to exit sooner.

But the procedural scenario remains at the mercy of the politics.

Reid is still trying to line up votes. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said Thursday he cannot accept a compromise abortion amendment. Democrats must also get a favorable Congressional Budget Office score of a plan to allow the Office of Personnel Management to negotiate rates with private insurers on behalf of a national plan -- a provision added after a public option was removed from the bill -- before locking several votes.

Democrats plan a special caucus whenever they have a score in hand. That now appears unlikely to occur until Friday, leaving Reid just days to lock down votes and start the cloture process in time for a final vote before Christmas. Reid is unlikely to move until he is confident he has the votes to win.

Democrats also appear to be hoping to pass a short-term increase in the $12.1 trillion debt limit before the end of the year. Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg, R-N.H., wants to offer four amendments to the debt-limit bill, including legislation to create a commission to recommend to Congress ways to lower the deficit.

Humberto Sanchez contributed to this report.