Senate stalls amidst GOP delay maneuver

The Associated Press: "Senate Democrats' drive to pass [a] health care overhaul by Christmas sputtered Wednesday as a lone moderate holdout remained undecided and Republican delaying tactics stretched an already protracted debate even further." Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who met privately with President Obama yesterday -- the third time he met with the President in eight days -- "says he still has concerns about abortion and other issues." 

To further complicate Senate action, the chamber "stumbled into health care gridlock after a Republican senator forced the clerk to read aloud a 767-page amendment." Sen. Tom Coburn, D-Okla., was rebuffed in his effort to require that "any amendment considered by the Senate must be offered 72 hours in advance and with a full cost report." As a result, he "invoked his right to require that an amendment ... be read aloud. That sent the Senate into limbo, since the amendment by Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders is 767 pages long" (Alonso-Zaldivar and Thomas, 12/16).

USA Today: Coburn's request for a reading of the amendment is "a major delaying maneuver." The amendment, which has no chance of passing and would create a single-payer system, was offered by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. "The reading of bills and amendments is allowed under Senate rules, but usually is waived. ... [It] began at 12 p.m. ET" (Stanglin, 12/16).

The New York Times Prescriptions blog: "The Democrats had been hoping to deal with a couple of health amendments on Wednesday, including the one proposed by Mr. Sanders, which was expected to be defeated, and then pause the health care debate to take up a defense spending bill. ... 'This throws the schedule off considerably,' a Republican leadership aide said, with no small amount of satisfaction" (Herszenhorn, 12/16).