Senate Democrats cleared a major hurdle this weekend by voting to move ahead with debate on health care reform, but it was hardly a unified party standing behind the bill.
The health care bill that passed a crucial test vote in the Senate on Saturday is proof that getting reform passed and getting it right are two very different things.
Traditional Senate decorum yielded to brass-knuckle politicking Friday in the health care debate as top Democrats sought to close party ranks before a key procedural vote this weekend.
Top Senate Democrats are preparing to defend their sweeping health care reform bill Thursday, one day after unveiling the measure on a sharply polarized Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a sweeping health care bill Wednesday that would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years.
The House squeaked out its version of health care reform and now President Obama is putting pressure on the Senate to do the same so he can sign a bill before the end of the year.
Senate Democrats cleared a major hurdle this weekend by voting to move ahead with debate on health care reform, but it was hardly a unified party standing behind the bill.
The health care bill that passed a crucial test vote in the Senate on Saturday is proof that getting reform passed and getting it right are two very different things.
Traditional Senate decorum yielded to brass-knuckle politicking Friday in the health care debate as top Democrats sought to close party ranks before a key procedural vote this weekend.
Top Senate Democrats are preparing to defend their sweeping health care reform bill Thursday, one day after unveiling the measure on a sharply polarized Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a sweeping health care bill Wednesday that would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years.
The House squeaked out its version of health care reform and now President Obama is putting pressure on the Senate to do the same so he can sign a bill before the end of the year.
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would be pushing for a public option in the final health care bill, it looked as if he had given up on the possibility of a bipartisan agreement.
The contentious debate over health care took a new twist Monday as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his decision to craft legislation including a public insurance option allowing states to opt out.
To: Interested parties From: John King, CNN chief national correspondent Re: Monday Memo Washington (CNN) -- It is a busy week ahead, to say the least, and perhaps a telling one in the health care debate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is poised to proceed with plans to introduce a Senate health care bill with a public health insurance option that would allow states to opt out, a senior aide to Reid told CNN on Sunday.
The amount of money lobbyists are spending on health care reform could break records, and now that the five bills before Congress have cleared committee, that spending is expected to go into overdrive.
Prospects for bipartisan cooperation on health care reform faded Wednesday as a key Senate Democrat called his GOP counterparts obstructionist and both conservative and liberal activists attacked the sweeping $827 billion Senate Finance Committee bill.
The focus on health care reform now shifts to the Democratic leadership in Congress a day after the Senate Finance Committee voted through its version of the health care bill.
The Senate Finance Committee will vote on its long-awaited health care bill next Tuesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor Thursday.
After postponing a vote on a $410 billion spending bill, Senate Democrats planned to consider Republican amendments as early as Friday to get the votes needed to move the legislation forward.
The U.S. Senate postponed a planned vote on a $410 billion spending plan on Thursday, with Democratic leaders saying they would allow Republican changes to the bill to be considered after coming up just short of the support they needed.
The Senate postponed a planned vote on a $410 billion spending plan Thursday, with Democratic leaders saying they would allow Republican changes to the bill to be considered after coming up just short of the support they needed.
What a joke. Your Congress has voted to spend almost $790 billion of your money on a stimulus package that not a single member of either chamber has read.
The Senate plans to vote on the $789 billion compromise stimulus late Friday after an all-day debate, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday from the chamber floor.
Negotiators have worked out a disagreement between the Senate and House over education funding in the economic stimulus bill, Democratic leadership sources said Wednesday evening.
Democratic leadership sources say they have worked out a way around the disagreement between the Senate and House over education funding in the economic stimulus bill.
U.S. senators began debate on a massive economic-recovery package Friday evening, after a working coalition of Democrats and some Republicans reached a compromise that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version.
A key compromise over the $900 billion economic recovery plan entered a pivotal phase Friday, with Democrats wrestling over potential cuts to the proposal that include billions slashed from education spending.
The Senate wrapped up Thursday night after hours of sometimes acrimonious work without voting on a massive economic recovery plan championed by President Barack Obama.
Sen. Norm Coleman began packing his Capitol Hill office Wednesday, but said he has no intention of giving up his legal fight to serve another term in Congress.
Leaders of the nation's auto industry made their final plea on Capitol Hill Friday for a $34 billion bailout they said Detroit - and the U.S. economy - can't live without.
Congressional Democrats are asking the Big Three automakers to submit a plan no later than December 2 for spending the $25 billion they have requested to rescue their companies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reversed plans to hold a test vote Thursday on a Democratic-sponsored automakers bailout bill but held out the possibility for a last-minute vote on any compromise.
House Democratic leaders are putting together a second economic stimulus package costing as much as $150 billion and are likely to call Congress back shortly after the election to vote on the measure, according to several Democratic leadership aides.
Several big life insurance stocks fell sharply Thursday, dragged down by jitters about their role in the credit crisis and fears sparked by a comment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Wednesday about a potential bankruptcy in the industry.
A small group of Democratic House members put together an alternative to the $700 billion financial bailout measure that was defeated in the House on Monday.
Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill on Monday to resume their fight over legislation allowing more offshore oil drilling, in a bid to help relieve sky-high gasoline prices that are hurting the economy and infuriating voters.
Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill Monday to pick up where they left off in their bitter fight over energy legislation -- whether to allow more off-shore oil drilling to help relieve the sky-high price of gasoline that is hurting the economy and infuriating voters.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid surprised Republicans on Monday by offering them a chance to vote this week on four GOP-backed amendments to an energy bill, including one that would expand offshore oil drilling.
Congress appears unlikely to pass energy legislation before leaving this week for its August recess -- even though polls show Americans are worrying more about record high gas prices than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Polygamous sects that have spread throughout the United States and beyond are "a form of organized crime," largely unchecked by law enforcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
Senate negotiators said they reached a tentative
agreement on a key obstacle to one of the most ambitious federal health
initiatives ever, a $50 billion act to combat AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis in Africa and other countries
Momentum built Wednesday for a bipartisan Senate bill designed to ease the slumping housing market and help millions of families threatened by foreclosure, though economists are skeptical that it will help much
Senate leaders have agreed to move forward on stalled legislation aimed at easing the impact of the falling housing market, the chamber's top Republican and Democrat announced Tuesday.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked efforts to give bankruptcy courts more power to stave off home foreclosures, a move the chamber's Democratic leader called "a big mistake."
A Senate vote on an economic stimulus package must wait until next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday, allowing senators on the campaign trail to return to Washington.
Senators have left town for the Thanksgiving holiday, but the Senate will technically stay in session -- a move that keeps President Bush from making appointments while lawmakers are in recess.
Senators on Friday weren't able to muster enough support to bring dueling war-funding bills to a final vote, possibly ending debate on the issue until next year.
Republican senators on Friday were again able to block a Democratic amendment that would set "definite timelines" for bringing home American combat forces from Iraq.
Democrats are disappointed they have been unable to force President Bush to change course in Iraq, but they will keep pushing -- with or without Republican help, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
As the Senate prepares to vote on a measure that would cut off funding for the war in Iraq, Democrats running for president are making a hard decision -- whether to vote for an amendment that would cut off funding for the war.
The top Democrat in the Senate announced Monday he is moving two major Iraq votes into an unrelated water bill, a decision that could clear the way for an Iraq funding vote as early as this week.
President Bush is warming up his veto muscles after the Senate passed a war funding bill Thursday that sets a deadline for withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by next April.
After months of heated rhetoric slamming President Bush's Iraq policy, the Senate's top Democrat moved into new terrain by declaring the Iraq war a worse blunder than Vietnam.
Senate Democrats have decided to push aside a stalled bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush's troop boost in Iraq in favor of a more simplified measure now being debated in the House.
Senate Republicans used a procedural maneuver Monday to keep Democratic leaders from moving forward with a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.
The days of lawmakers slipping pet projects into spending bills at the last minute are ending after the Senate approved a new rule Tuesday forcing members to disclose requests for those "earmarks."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid discovered this week he was the victim of identity theft after someone used his MasterCard number to charge about $2,000 at a Wal-Mart and other stores in Monroe, North Carolina.
A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.
The Senate minority leader said Sunday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney owe the country an explanation of "what's going on" in the administration and called for White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to be fired.
Conservatives and liberals reacted cautiously Monday to President Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers, noting her lack of experience as a judge and the absence of a record that definitively demonstrates her judicial philosophy.
For several elections, Democrats have been hurt by the widespread perception that the party consists of a confederation of interest groups to which Democratic leadership is slavishly beholden.
Not waiting for President Bush to outline his Hurricane Katrina recovery plans, Democratic congressional leaders Thursday afternoon issued their own call for a domestic "Marshall Plan" to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suffered a mild stroke earlier this week and underwent tests, but he was not hospitalized and "feels fine," his office said Friday.
If Senate minority leader Harry Reid is spooked by Republican threats to curb the mighty filibuster in order to get President Bush's judges appointed to the bench, he isn't showing it.
Angered by Republican criticism, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday suggested President Bush's calls for unity are proving "absolutely false."
In the wake of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle's election defeat Tuesday, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada said Wednesday that he has enough support among his colleagues to become the next Democratic leader.
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