President Barack Obama said on Tuesday's Senate committee vote for a centrist $829bn healthcare bill brought the US closer to his goal of achieving universal healthcare reform but warned Democrats “not to pat ourselves on the back” given the long road ahead.
The 14-9 margin on the Senate finance committee, which included the sole Republican vote of Olympia Snowe of Maine, paves the way for Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, to craft a new bill for the Senate floor that will be designed to overcome a probable Republican filibuster. It will come in tandem with similar efforts to merge the differing committee versions in the House.
“This bill is not perfect and we have a lot of difficult work ahead of us,” Mr Obama warned.