Another step closer to US Health Care Reform

US senators are preparing to vote on the final Senate version of a historic health care reform after yesterday's 60-39 vote to end debate on the controversial measure, which is expected to cost $871 billion. This was welcomed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said: 'we stand on the doorstep of history.'

However, though defeated, Republicans still took to the floor of the Chamber to lambaste the bill, with Senator Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah) arguing that it "just might wind up being the most widely hated legislation of the decade."

After 24 consecutive days of debate - the second-longest such stretch ever - the final vote on the Democrats' 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill is set for early Thursday, Christmas Eve morning, comments The Associated Press. It will be the Senate's first Christmas Eve vote since 1895, when the matter at hand was a military affairs bill concerning employment of former Confederate officers, according to the Senate Historical Office, it said.