December 22nd, 2009 – The United States Senate voted 60-39 to approve an amendment to H.R. 3590, the Senate health bill, and to protect the bill from a Republican filibuster.
The 383-page Reid-Baucus-Dodd-Harkin amendment, Senate Amendment 3276 would make many major changes to the underlying Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bill, including replacing a proposed public health plan to be run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with a system of regional plans to be provided by private companies but administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Senate Democratic leaders have set a goal for the Senate to hold the final vote on H.R. 3590 at 7 p.m. Thursday, on Christmas Eve.
