Senators readied for a crucial pre-dawn vote today to pave the way for US health care reform, US President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority, after a key holdout senator said he would back the sweeping legislation.
Democratic Senator Ben Nelson’s resistance had kept fellow Democrats from corralling the 60 votes needed to ensure Senate passage over resistance from Republicans eager to hand Obama a crippling political defeat.
“Change is never easy, but change is what is needed in America today. I will vote for health care reform,” said the lawmaker, who announced on Saturday he had secured the tough new restrictions he sought on public money from paying for abortions.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“With today’s developments,” Obama told reporters at the White House, “it now appears the American people will have the vote they deserve on genuine reform offering security to those who have health insurance and affordable options for those who do not.”
While acknowledging “there is still much work left to be done,” Obama hailed what he called “a major step forward for the American people.”
“After a nearly century-long struggle we are on the cusp of making health care reform a reality,” he said.
At its core, the legislation would create a new insurance exchange where consumers could shop for affordable coverage that complied with new federal guidelines. Most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, with federal subsidies available to help defray the cost for lower and middle-income individuals and families.
But groups from opposites sides of the abortion debate assaulted the compromise. The pro-choice National Organization of Women called it a “cruelly over-compromised legislation,” while the conservative Family Research Council blasted the “phony abortion ‘compromise.’”
The House of Representatives approved similar curbs on abortion when it passed its own version of the legislation, but abortion-rights Democrats have vowed to strip them when the two chambers craft a final bill for Obama to sign into law.
Nelson warned —“less as a threat, and more of a promise” — that he would oppose the final House-Senate compromise if it included “material changes” that stripped out his demands, likely dooming the legislation.
His backing allowed Democrats to breathe a sign of relief ahead of a make-or-break 1am vote today to end debate on Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s newly unveiled compromise health bill.
A tentative Democratic timeline also calls for key procedural votes around 7:00am tomorrow and 1pm on Wednesday, with final passage at 7pm on Thursday.
If the Senate approves the bill, it will still need to reconcile stark differences with a House plan to pass a final measure before Obama’s State of the Union address to the US Congress next month.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese