ObamaCare in the Senate tonite ...

In Case You're Just Tuning In [Robert Costa]

There are a few things you need to know about tonight's vote and what it means.

— One, Obamacare (in the form of a cloture vote on Senate majority leader Harry Reid's bill) needs 60 votes tonight to be eligible for a final Senate-floor debate. Tonight's vote, in other words, is the last procedural roadblock for Democrats as they push to bring their health-care bill to its final legislative stage.

— Two, if Reid does get his 60 votes tonight, and the bill moves to the floor, it's a big win for Democrats — if but for a moment. The Senate would then go on Thanksgiving break and come back to start the final health-care debate on Monday, November 30th.

— Three, if the bill moves to the floor for a final debate, that debate could stretch on for a long time. Why? Reid will need 60 votes to end the final debate. However, Reid does not need 60 to pass the bill. He only needs 51 for that.

Think of it like this: tonight's vote to move the bill to the floor needs 60 to pass. Then, to end the debate on the bill once it's on the floor and move to a final vote, Reid needs 60 votes again. If he can clear these two hurdles, the bill will come to a final vote in the Senate, where it needs 51 votes to pass. Even if it passes in say early 2010, then the bill will then head to a conference committee between the House and the Senate, where issues will be hashed out even more before it has any chance of reaching President Obama's desk.

So, it's a long road ahead. Stay with us through the fight.


Senator Orrin Hatch on the Senate floor ...

Mr. President, We are rapidly approaching perhaps one of the most important votes for each of us here in the United States Senate. This is bigger than us, our parties or our ideologies.
This about the very future of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is about your children and my children. It is about your grandchildren and my children. It is about giving our future generations the same opportunities and the same sense of pride. It is about every American life and every American business that will be subject to this 2,074-page edict from Washington.

I am going to spend my time before this historic vote to highlight some very important numbers, so every member of this chamber understands what they are voting to advance. Make no mistake, our actions today will not be without consequences. History and our future generations will judge us on this.

Here are some numbers:

· 0 – the number of provisions prohibiting the rationing of health care.

· 0 – the number of government-run entitlement programs that are financially sound over the long-term.

· 10.2 percent – our national unemployment rate, the highest in 26 years.

· 70 – total number of government programs authorized by the bill.

· 1,697 – times the Secretary of Health and Human Services is given authority to determine or define provisions in this bill.

· 2,074 – total pages in this bill.

· 2010 – the year Americans start paying higher taxes to pay for this bill

· 2014 – the year when this bill actually starts most of the major provisions of this bill

· $6.8 million – cost to taxpayers per word

· $8 billion – the total amount of new taxes on Americans who do not buy Washington-defined health care.

· $465 billion – Cuts in Medicare at a time when it faces a $38 trillion unfunded liability to finance more government spending.

· $494 billion – total amount of new taxes in this bill

· $2.5 trillion – the real cost of the bill

· $12 trillion – our total national debt


These numbers are facts. They are undisputable.

Let me finish by reading an excerpt from a letter from one of my fellow Utahans from Provo, who is worried just like me about what this bill will mean for our country:

“I am writing out of deep concern over the increasing expansion of government. I moved here from Germany 20 years ago. I love America because it is free – freer than Germany in that I have the freedom to choose, among other things, how I want to insure my family (we have six children). I’m all for affordable health insurance which requires affordable health care. I am self-employed and have been hit hard by the economy.

There is a good chance that we would actually benefit from [this bill]. Business has been so bad that we would qualify for free school lunches if we asked for it. But I don’t want more government handouts.

I don’t want the government telling me what kind of insurance I need to have. I don’t want the government telling me what services I can receive when I need them. I don’t want them taking an ever greater part of my income to help finance government programs such as the ‘public option’ and the army of government employees it will take to administer such a program. I do not want more government. I want less. A lot less.”