Overhead on the Hill: Democratic Senators hold off Heath Care Filibuster

President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nev.)

Early this morning, Senate Democrats were able to pass a key legislative vote in their efforts to reform health care. The vote passed 60 to 40 with all Republican senators voting no on the transformative bill. The pending legislation is poised to cover an additional 30 million Americans who currently do not have health care.

The vote this morning is only the first of four votes that are needed between now and Thursday. The last vote is expected at 7pm on Christmas Eve. While the Democrats are rejoicing about their early morning victory today, the road to health care reform has not been an easy one.

This past week concessions have been made to Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska  in order to get 60 votes needed to pass Senate bills and prevent filibusters. Sen.
Lieberman was successful in gettting legislation that allowed Americans at the age of 55 to buy into Medicare dropped, and in order to secure the vote of Sen. Nelson, Sen. Reid included restrictive language on abortions in the bill.

"That's what legislation is all about -- it's the art of compromise," "It's no different than other pieces of legislation." - said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D -Nev.)

Even with the Christmas Eve vote, health care reform still has a ways to go. After the Senate passes its bill it has to go through reconciliation with the House version. The House version, passed in early November, included a public option and other provisions that is not in the Senate version. The bills will have to be consolidated and additional compromises made before it can reach President Obama's desk.