Senate Passes Health Care Bill 60-39, Merry Christmas Eve!

After weeks of intense debates and a number of moments that looked like the whole thing might unravel, the senate passed their version of the health care bill this morning in a 60-39 vote strictly along party lines. The next step in passing health care reform legislation will be to combine the senate bill with the more liberal house bill, and then have another vote on the combined bill in both the house and senate.

So health care reform is still not a done deal. Liberals and conservatives will continue to fight over issues like the public option, abortion funding, and the cost of reform. Winning the votes of conservative democrats will still be key to passing the final bill, which means President Obama and the rest of the democratic party will still be hamstrung by the ideals of politicians like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson.

But passing health care bills in both the house and senate is a historic event, and it could be that the democratic party as a whole will realize when it comes down to the final vote that it's more important to pass any health care reform bill rather than a "perfect" health care reform bill.