Democrats Announce Final Health-Care Bill will Resemble Senate Version More Than House Version

Any health-care legislation that reaches President Barack Obama’s desk will be close to the version the Senate passed last week, top Democrats said yesterday.

The Senate garnered the minimum 60 votes needed to overcome Republican objections and pass its measure overhauling health care, and any major changes would jeopardize final approval, said Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

It's stunning how easily both members of Congress and the media -- and all of us -- have slipped into believing that the problem with the health-care debate is that America is deeply divided. When the bill passed the Senate, the New York Times editorialized: "Conventional wisdom holds that the final product will have to be close to the Senate version lest that fragile 60-vote coalition be ruptured." The Times clearly preferred many features of the House bill, but felt it could only tepidly urge that the final bill "would include some provisions from the House bill."