Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 18, 2009
Senate Republicans said Thursday that they would try to filibuster a massive Pentagon bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an unusual move that several acknowledged was an effort to delay President Obama's health-care legislation.
Late into the night, Democrats emerged from a huddle confident that they would muster the 60 votes needed to thwart the GOP effort at blocking the military spending bill as an antiwar liberal said he would set aside his reservations and support choking off the filibuster in order to keep the chamber on a timeline of holding a final health-care vote before Christmas. The vote on the defense spending bill was to occur after 1 a.m. Friday, too late for this edition.
The maneuvering occurred on a day when Democrats were still desperately trying to round up a 60th vote on the health-care legislation, as Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) rejected an abortion compromise aimed at bringing him on board. Nelson, the last holdout in the Democratic caucus and the focus of an intense lobbying campaign by White House officials, has said he would not support the package unless it explicitly bars the use of federal funds for abortion services.
If Nelson's support can be secured over the weekend, Democrats are hopeful that they will be able to begin clearing the parliamentary hurdles that would allow final passage of their version of the health-care legislation by Christmas Eve. That would meet their self-imposed deadline to pass the legislation and begin a negotiation with House Democrats to craft a final version to send to the president's desk.
(More here.)
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