Medicare overhaul 'eyelash away'




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Medicare overhaul 'eyelash away'

By Andrea Stone, USA Today

November 24, 2003

Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said he would focus on other "parliamentary options" to defeat the bill.

WASHINGTON - The Senate was on the verge Monday of approving the largest overhaul of Medicare in its 38-year history

Beginning at 9 a.m. , senators are to take up the Medicare issue, with a 12:30 vote set to limit debate.

"We're an eyelash away," Senate Republican leader Bill Frist said on CNN's Late Edition. He said "there's no way" Democrats can stop the 10-year, $400 billion plan and predicted an "overwhelming majority" of senators will support it.

The vote to end Democrats' stalling tactics comes after an extraordinary all-night session in the House of Representatives over the weekend. The House voted 220-215 to add a prescription-drug benefit and market-based cost controls to the federal health care program for seniors. GOP leaders held open the roll call for a record three hours while they lobbied for votes. House rules say votes must last 15 minutes but can continue indefinitely.

The measure would provide, beginning in 2006, a prescription-drug benefit for 40 million older and disabled Americans. Some with lower incomes would receive more generous coverage; wealthier seniors would have to pay more for doctor visits. But the bill also calls for allowing private competition, starting in 2010, that could change the nature of Medicare.

Passage would give President Bush and Republicans a significant domestic-policy victory on which to campaign next year. By delivering the long-promised coverage, Republicans hope to blunt the negative fallout from the administration's policy on postwar Iraq and the lingering problem of joblessness in the economy. Democrats who vote against the bill could have to explain why they opposed such a popular benefit backed by the 35 million-member AARP.

As the Senate debated Medicare in a rare Sunday session, Democratic leader Tom Daschle acknowledged on NBC's Meet the Press that "we don't have the votes right now" to block the measure. That could happen with a filibuster, a delaying tactic that requires 60 votes to overcome. Republicans control the Senate, 51-48, with one independent. But nine Democrats so far have said they support the bill.

Daschle said he would try other tactics to defeat the measure. A senior Democratic aide said he could argue that it would violate budget rules in the Senate.

Despite dwindling prospects, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he will try to block the bill. The three Senate presidential candidates, John Kerry of Massachusetts , Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina , also support a filibuster.