Democrats, with the help of two independents moved their healthcare bill to the Senate floor tonight, despite the efforts of Republicans to defeat the effort.  Now, the floodgates are open and we can expect a protracted debate in the Senate on the overhaul of the healthcare system.

All 58 Democrats and the two independents aligned with them backed cloture on a motion to proceed, thus moving the Democratic-backed healthcare bill to the floor for open formal debate. Thirty-nine Republicans, as expected, opposed the motion.

Tonight’s vote paves the way for debate after the Thanksgiving recess. Opening the floor for debate is one thing; producing an outcome amenable to all is quite another thing.  Centrist Democrats said that while they voted to allow debate, they will be proposing amendments.  They’re not the only ones; the Republicans are gearing up for this one too.

Republicans have been arguing against the measure noting that the $848 billion over 10 years cost was too expensive and would be funded by a variety of taxes and hocus-pocus. In addition, they decried the growing government control and marginal focus on preventing an ailing economy from slipping further.

Democrats countered that fixing healthcare financing was crucial to any economic improvement.  Arrogantly, Democrat Harry Reid stated "I again invite my colleagues, my Republican colleagues, to join on the right side of history. I invite them to join us in at the very least in a debate on our future."  With that statement, Reid preposterously claims that somehow history has already been written and that he is correct.  Perhaps the Senator should just worry about the here and now and leave history to future scholars.

The healthcare argument will consume the Senate in the forthcoming weeks as senators try to pass a bill in time to meet President Obama’s deadline of signing a healthcare law this year.

Then there is the matter of synchronizing their version of healthcare reform with the one passed by the House.  Differences on the public funding options, taxes and fees, among others, will need to be resolved before a final bill can be sent to President Obama.

President Obama has made it clear that healthcare reform is his top domestic priority for this year. Republicans have been hard at work in trying to block any victory, while they eye the midterm election next year. Polls have been consistently showing that people genuinely dislike Congress, and in the past week, even President Obama’s popularity has dipped below 50% by several counts, including the highly regarded Gallup Poll.