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BREAKING -- Senate passes health bill - Live Pulse: BREAKING -- Senate passes health bill December 24, 2009
Categories:Senate .BREAKING -- Senate passes health bill
At 7:16 a.m., the Senate passed on a 60-39 party line vote a sweeping health care bill that will tighten insurance regulations, provide insurance for 31 million more Americans and cost $871 billion over the next decade.

"This is for my friend Ted Kennedy, aye," said Sen. Robert Byrd as he cast his vote.

Clearly exhausted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid mistakenly voted no before changing his vote to yes, which got a laugh in the chamber, especially from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

After the vote, Reid joked, "I spent a very restless night last night trying to figure out how I could show some bipartisanship and I think I was able to accomplish that for a few minutes."

Senate Republican Jim Bunning was absent for the vote.

With Vice President Joe Biden presiding over the session, Democrats gathered in the chamber before sunrise on the day before Christmas to cast a vote long in coming but in the end, hardly a surprise, a 60-39 tally that was the fourth time in as many days that Democrats proved they could muster the winning margin.

Reid opened the Senate floor at 7 a.m. and channeled Ted Kennedy: “The work goes on. The cause endures… and yet here we are, minutes away from doing what others have tried but none have achieved.”

Republican leader Mitch McConnell responded: “This fight isn’t over. My colleagues and I will work to stop this bill from becoming law. That’s the clear will of the American people — and we’re going to continue to fight on their behalf.”

TweetDoes anyone remember my post about the difference between a Democracy and Republic? Here is a classic case of a Democracy. They are going to restructure the health care system, one sixth of the economy, with the majority of Americans against it and 40% of Senators against it. Remember, today all Americans lost some of their individual liberties and the Constitutional Republic failed us. Case in point, we are a democracy now and our freedom will be gone forever within a few more decades. If anyone doubts that then you have no real understanding of politics and government. In a Democracy 51% strip the freedom from the opposing 49%. In a republic that would not be allowed to happen, hence the reason our founders gave us a republic and left the word democracy out of the entire Constitution and Declaration.

Famous Quote from Ben Franklin. After signing the Constitution a woman out front in the crowd asked: What kind of government do we have? Franklin responded: "A Republic as long as you can keep it."