HEALTH CARE UPDATE - AT 9:36 A.M. ET:  There's a major vote involving the health "reform" bill in the Senate today, and it could have a profound effect on the final outcome.  From the Washington Examiner:

A pep talk by President Obama wasn't enough to give Senate Democrats the votes they needed to pass a massive health care overhaul, but a Monday vote on abortion funding could determine whether the legislation survives.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber would take up an amendment by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., that would strictly prohibit taxpayer money from being spent on abortion.

"I want to get it out of the way," Reid said. "I think we all do."

But the amendment could ultimately stand in the way of the bill's final passage, no matter what the outcome of the Monday vote.

The decision on the abortion amendment will be a decisive moment. If it fails, anti-abortion Democrats including Nelson and Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., may vote against the final bill. But if the amendment passes, the party's many senators who support abortion access, such as Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., could walk away.

COMMENT:  Passage of a final bill is not at all certain, although Democrats are determined to pass something, anything, just to say they've passed it.  There has still been no coherent explanation of what's in this monstrous bill.  Most Americans are against it, probably because they intelligently don't want something passed unless they understand it fully.

December 7, 2009