In news that will surprise no one, Senate Dems voted unanimously to defeat the GOP attempt to repeal the health care bill. This one will be decided in the courts:
Senate Democrats remained united on Wednesday in killing a Republican effort to repeal the health care bill signed into law last March.
As expected, no Democrats voted against a procedural motion that effectively defeated a GOP amendment -- sponsored by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and tacked on to an unrelated aviation bill -- to repeal the health legislation.
All Republicans voted together in favor of the McConnell-sponsored amendment. The vote was 47-51.
The House passed the repeal measure last month.But the defeat of the equivalent legislation in the Senate means that the ultimate fate of the health care bill will likely not be settled until the Supreme Court hears an expected constitutional challenge to the law -- particularly its mandate that most Americans buy insurance.
The high court would likely hear the case in its next term, which begins in October of 2011, although some would like to see the matter addressed sooner. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., urged the court today to expedite the ruling.
As John Thune and Orrin Hatch told Greta Van Susteren last night, Republicans aren't giving up or going away on this. Indeed, they intend to try a piecemeal approach of a death by a thousand cuts. They also clearly are pinning most of their hopes on a Supreme Court decision.
