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It's one of the oldest spectator sports in
American politics: Democrat vs. Democrat. Welcome to the health
care overhaul edition.


      With just days remaining to prove that they can meet a
self-imposed Christmas deadline and pass President Barack Obama's
signature initiative through the Senate, Democrats seeking a
rendezvous with history instead detoured to an intraparty brawl.


      Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was poised to release the
latest version of the Senate legislation as early as Friday, but it
was unclear what kind of reception he'd get. Labor leaders said the
bill was soft on the insurance industry, and former party chairman
Howard Dean said he'd vote against it if he were a senator.


      All eyes were on the only known Democratic holdout, moderate
Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, whose primary concern is that abortion
funding restrictions in the bill were too lax. Nelson indicated
Thursday he still was not happy but would keep talking with Reid,
who needs 60 votes to push through Republican opposition.


      Nelson, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, was vague
throughout the day about his intentions, eventually telling
reporters, "I hope we're getting closer" to agreement.


      "Without modifications, the language concerning abortion is not
sufficient," he said earlier in the day in a written statement
that summarized the results of days of private negotiations. The
second-term Nebraskan opposes the procedure and wants tighter
restrictions written into the overhaul.


      Any hopes the bill's supporters had of a Republican casting a
critical 60th vote vanished when Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said
after a meeting with Obama that the Democrats' timetable for a
pre-Christmas vote was "totally unrealistic."


      Republicans, who have been going all out to kill the bill,
couldn't believe what they were hearing from Democrats.


      "If you live long enough, all things can happen," Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., said on the Senate floor. "I now find myself in
complete agreement with Dr. Howard Dean, who says that we should
stop this bill in its tracks. ... Dr. Dean, I am with you."


      Former President Bill Clinton came to the defense of the Senate
bill. Clinton, whose ambitions were humbled by the collapse of his
own health care remake, reminded Democrats that political pros
don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good.


      "Take it from someone who knows: These chances don't come
around every day," Clinton said in a statement. "Allowing this
effort to fall short now would be a colossal blunder - both
politically for our party, and far more important, for the
physical, fiscal and economic health of our country."


      Liberals are furious over the compromises Reid had to make to
keep the bill alive. Gone is a government insurance plan modeled on
Medicare. So is the fallback, the option of allowing aging baby
boomers to buy into Medicare. The major benefits of the bill won't
start for three or four years, and then they'll be delivered
through private insurance companies.


      Overall, the legislation is designed to extend coverage to
millions who lack it, ban insurance company practices such as
denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions and slow the
rise in medical spending nationwide.


      The bill would require most Americans to purchase insurance, and
it includes hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to help
lower- and middle-class families afford it.


      "If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health
care bill," Dean wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday by
The Washington Post. "The winners in this bill are insurance
companies; the American taxpayer is about to be fleeced in a
situation that dwarfs even what happened at AIG."


      The White House challenged Dean, noting that the insurance
industry actually opposes the legislation.


      "We're on the doorstep of doing something really meaningful,"
top White House adviser David Axelrod said in an interview.


      The bill would cover an additional 30 million people and put
into motion a range of experiments that may yet succeed in slowing
the growth of health care costs.


      Politically powerful labor unions panned the Senate bill but
stopped short of calling for its demise, saying they hoped
lawmakers ultimately would improve it.


      The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, and the
Service Employees International Union both expressed deep
disappointment. The Senate bill includes a tax on high-cost
insurance plans that unions fear will hurt their members.


      SEIU president Andy Stern scolded Obama, saying the president
should remember his campaign promise to bring change to America.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the Senate bill "bends
toward the insurance industry."


      Both union chiefs said they hoped the bill that finally emerges
from Congress would reflect the House-passed measure, which
incorporated a government insurance option and omitted the
insurance tax.

Gallery

Health

It's one of the oldest spectator sports in
American politics: Democrat vs. Democrat. Welcome to the health
care overhaul edition.


It's now Democrat vs. Democrat on health care

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