WASHINGTON - With a self-imposed Christmas deadline at stake, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday he has apparently secured the 60 votes needed to pass a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system.
"It seems that way," Reid said when asked at a news conference if he had all the required votes.
Reid's declaration came after he engineered a last-minute compromise in the health care debate that won the support of the lone Democratic holdout. The Congressional Budget Office said Reid's revisions would reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion over 10 years.
Marathon negotiations among the White House, Senate Democratic leaders and Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska, produced fresh concessions that will mean additional abortion restrictions in the legislation and funding to cover poor people for Nelson's state and more.
"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree. But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions," Nelson said at a news conference in the Capitol.
Democratic leaders offered Nelson a deal similar to the $300 million in Medicaid assistance Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana got for her support, numerous sources told Fox News.
When asked about this, Sen. Kent Conrad, a key Democratic leader involved in the negotiations with Nelson, said, "Oh, it'll be much more." - FOX News Story
I know that this happens all the time in Washington, but it just doesn't seem right. Senators and Congressman holding out or receiving big payouts for their state if they agree to vote one way or another. Shouldn't the bills have to stand and be voted on based on their own merit? Not because there is a bribe in their for you. Why is it illegal for me to pay off a government official to approve something or vote a certain way? It is the same thing that happens in Washington everyday?
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