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- The final obstacle to 60 votes for health-care reform, Sen. Ben Nelson, finally fell on Saturday when the Nebraska Democrat accepted compromise legislation from Harry Reid that would allow individual states to choose whether to cover abortion in health care. Rep. Bart Stupak, whose late amendment to the House version of the reform bill is even more oppressive than Nelson's, has refused to accept the compromise.
- Despite the significant victory the compromise represents for passing reform, the process by which the House and Senate versions of the legislation are to be reconciled is certain to be contentious, and it is unlikely that the House progressive caucus is simply going to pass the Senate's version of the bill in order to appease the White House's desire for final passage before year's end. This useful chart in The Washington Post helps explain the differences between the two chambers' bills.
- The CBO score of the new public option-free reform bill, while $22 billion more expensive at $871 billion over 10 years, nevertheless cuts $132 billion from the federal budget deficit over the same period. Unsurprisingly, the savings would have been greater had the public option remained in the bill, but then we would have been deprived of the shameless spectacle of self-appointed "centrists" whining about costs while doing nothing to curb them.
- Remainders: Ezra Klein has a comprehensive summary of the changes to the manager's amendments in the new Senate bill; Olympia Snowe can't support reform because it's being "rushed"; RNC chairman Michael Steele claims reform will cost $1 trillion dollars per year; and Jon Chait summarizes the enormous tactical blunder Republicans made when they decided to oppose reform in toto and refused to compromise on anything.
--Mori Dinauer
