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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (17337)	11/23/2003 5:58:59 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793698

A successful filibuster by the Democrats would work well for the Republicans. They would get credit with trying to pass a medicare benefit, while suffering none of the budget problems from it. Senate Foes of Medicare Bill Vow to Stall By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Writer 12:25 AM PST, November 23, 2003 WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats threatened to use delaying tactics to kill the Medicare prescription drug bill after Republicans employed a dramatic three-hour vote to jam one of President Bush's top priorities through the House. The Senate planned a second day of debate Sunday on the massive measure. Sen. Edward Kennedy and his fellow Massachusetts Democrat, presidential contender John Kerry, said they were ready to try defeating the plan with a filibuster, a procedural delay that takes 60 of the Senate's 100 votes to halt. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., scheduled a vote for Monday to block the threatened filibuster and said he was hoping for final passage early in the week. The bill would create a prescription drug benefit for 40 million older and disabled Americans, as well as a new option for private health care coverage. "There is a strong bipartisan majority in this body, in the U.S. Senate, in favor of the Medicare prescription drug legislation," Frist said. In his weekly radio address, Bush praised the 220-215 passage in the Republican-controlled House and called on senators to follow suit. "We're on the verge of success" of modernizing and strengthening Medicare, said Bush, who is eager to parade the bill as a success in his re-election campaign next year. Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the plan. They say some elements of the bill were too dear a price to pay for the drug benefit -- especially a provision creating a limited experiment in direct competition between private plans and traditional Medicare beginning in 2010. Democratic senators also said they were upset with what they said were strong-arm tactics by House GOP leaders. The House approved the bill only after the longest roll call in the chamber's history that ended at dawn -- a contrast to the 15 minutes such votes are supposed to last. "It was a rigged vote," Kennedy told reporters Saturday. "Give this bill a fair vote in the House of Representatives and I'll drop my filibuster." The House vote was stuck at 216 to 218 for over an hour, with the bill on the edge of defeat until a flurry of last-minute switches overcame a rebellion by conservatives. Speaker Dennis Hastert, his lieutenants and Health and Human Services Department Secretary Tommy Thompson shuttled from one GOP holdout to another seeking the votes to prevail. The president lobbied about a dozen lawmakers by phone from the White House late Friday and early Saturday. Said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, "We won it fair and square and they stole it by hook and crook." Republicans hope to pass the bill and send it to the president before Thanksgiving. latimes.com