By James Rowley and Kristin Jensen Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the last holdout among Senate Democrats on legislation to overhaul the U.S. health-care system, has agreed to support the bill, Senator Charles Schumer of New York said. “There was a handshake, yes,” Schumer said of Nelson’s decision late last night to back the legislation after meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House aides. Reid unveiled the bill today. Schumer said a final vote on the measure, the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health-care system in more than four decades, would come on Christmas Eve even if Republicans exhaust all their procedural rights to delay it. Reid had set a deadline for a Christmas vote on the legislation, which must still be reconciled with a version passed last month by the U.S. House and signed by President Barack Obama . Reid’s plan would cover 31 million uninsured people and reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over its first decade, an aide said. The plan, now being read on the Senate floor, would cut the deficit by about $650 billion during the second decade, the said. Like the $1 trillion measure passed Nov. 7 by the House, the Senate plan would require all Americans to get health coverage or pay a penalty. It would expand the Medicaid health program for the poor, set up online insurance-purchasing exchanges and provide subsidies for those who need help buying policies. Meeting With Reid Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, met with Reid in the majority leader’s office at least twice yesterday, along with Obama aides, who made a last-ditch effort to strike an agreement. “I am focused on getting this right,” Nelson said after the talks, which were joined by White House aides Nancy-Ann DeParle , Jim Messina and Pete Rouse . With Reid unveiling the bill, the senators will take three votes separated by 30-hour intervals over the next week, as the Republicans use every procedural tactic they can to delay a measure they say will raise taxes, hurt insurers and widen the deficit . Nelson has been pushing for stronger language to prohibit federal subsidies from being used to fund abortions and says he has a “laundry list” of other concerns. Some Gains He said last night said he made some gains on changes he is seeking on the expansion of the Medicaid program for low-income Americans, which is financed by state and federal governments. Reid and Obama need Nelson’s support for their top domestic priority because they have no backing from Republicans. Passage of the bill will require 60 votes to cut off Republican stalling tactics, and Democrats control exactly that number. Leaders of the party described Nelson as the chief holdout. The only Senate Republican to support the legislation on the committee level, Maine Republican Olympia Snowe , said on Dec. 17 that she told Obama Democrats shouldn’t be moving so fast to pass a bill. Rushing to passage “doesn’t make sense” for legislation that wouldn’t take effect for four years, she said. Obama told her “he would prefer to move the process forward,” Snowe told reporters. “I was advocating using part of January to focus on issues that need attention.” Before Reid and Nelson huddled yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said there was a “good chance” that Democrats “will not be able to get their members to lock arms and walk off the cliff in obvious defiance of the American people” who he said are against the bill. He and other Republicans also said they would use any method at their disposal to block passage. Asked if Republicans planned to force the Senate to exhaust time reading the legislation on the floor, Arizona Senator John McCain told reporters yesterday, “I don’t think it would be outrageous to ask for a bill to be read that we haven’t seen that affects one-seventh of our gross national product.” To contact the reporters on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net ; Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net
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Health-Care Bill in Senate Gets Nelson’s Support, Providing Key 60th Vote
