Democratic Holdout Controls Fate of Senate Health Care Bill (Blue Dog or Yellow?)

As Democrats race against the clock to pass a sweeping health care bill before Christmas, Sen. Ben Nelson, the only known Democratic holdout, has positioned himself to play Santa or the Grinch.

The Nebraska Democrat is pushing to include air-tight restrictions on abortion funding in the bill, but that's not all he wants.

Because of the $465 billion in Medicare cuts included in the Senate bill, Nelson wants help for rural hospitals and nursing homes, who he says will be hit hard. Nelson is expected to get his wish on that front, a senior Democratic aide told Fox News.

But it's not yet clear what else Democratic leaders will have to offer Nelson to win his support.

Whatever it is, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needs to close the deal fast if he expects to keep the legislation on track for passage by Christmas. Reid is expected Saturday to release a package of changes to the bill that could run to hundreds of pages and is likely to be read aloud on the Senate floor at the request of Republicans.

White House officials and several senior Democratic sources told Fox News that they remain confident that the impasse with Nelson can be worked out.

Nelson has threatened to vote against the bill if it doesn't explicitly ban abortion coverage for subsidized insurance plans, even if private premiums are separated -- a distinction abortion opponents have called an accounting gimmick.

“They are calling for 12 to 20 inches of snow.”

You know things are really bad when God Himself hunts you down all over the world. You can tell yourself you can get ahead of Him, or that it’s coincidence. It’s not. This is not.

But once they get 60 votes in the senate, even if Pelosi’s conference changes it again, it will have so much momentum when it comes back from conference that I would be surprised if any senate Dem voted NO. There is a possibility that Byrd could have health problems, though.

It’s like Newton’s 1st law of motion. Any bill that goes through conference will become law, unless something weird happens or the POTUS vetoes it.

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