Health Care Passes

And as expected, the vote was split along party lines:

After months of blown deadlines and political near-death experiences, a sweeping health care reform bill cleared the Senate Thursday on a party-line vote, putting President Barack Obama within reach of a domestic policy achievement that has eluded Democrats for decades.

With Vice President Joe Biden presiding over the session, Democrats gathered in the chamber before sunrise on the day before Christmas to cast a vote long in coming but in the end, hardly a surprise, a 60-39 tally that was the fourth time in as many days that Democrats proved they could muster the winning margin.

But this was the one that counted, the bookend to a House vote last month that puts Congress on record saying that Americans have the right to affordable health insurance, with plans that will cover 30 million Americans currently without it.

Funny. I don't feel like a Communist...