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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate voted 60-39 Saturday night to proceed with a floor debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid's $848 billion health care bill.

The successful vote to prevent a Republican filibuster against starting debate broke down along strict party lines. All 58 Senate Democrats – along with Independent Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont – supported bringing the measure to the floor. Thirty-nine of the 40 Senate Republicans opposed the motion. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, didn't vote.

A minimum of 60 votes is required to break a filibuster in the 100-member body. The outcome of the vote was unclear before Saturday afternoon, when Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas, announced her support for a full chamber debate on health care reform - the top issue on President Barack Obama's domestic agenda.

Lincoln, a key moderate likely facing a tough reelection campaign in 2010, said the issue deserved further debate and consideration. She made clear in remarks on the Senate floor, however, that she opposes several aspects of Reid's bill, including a controversial government-run public option. "Although I don't believe with everything in this bill, I believe it is important to begin debate," Lincoln said. "The issue is very complex. There is no easy fix."

Two other Democratic moderates whose support was considered to be in doubt - Nebraska's Ben Nelson and Louisiana's Mary Landrieu - also announced their decision to back a full debate shortly before the vote.

The procedural vote was a significant victory for Reid and the Obama administration. The House of Representatives narrowly passed a more than $1 trillion health care bill earlier this month. If the Senate manages to pass a bill, a congressional conference committee would need to merge the House and Senate proposals into a consensus version requiring final approval from each chamber before moving to Obama's desk to be signed into law.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate voted 60-39 Saturday night to proceed with a floor debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid's $848 billion health care bill.

The successful vote to prevent a Republican filibuster against starting debate broke down along strict party lines. All 58 Senate Democrats - along with Independent Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont - supported bringing the measure to the floor. Almost all of the 40 Senate Republicans opposed the motion.

A minimum of 60 votes is required to break a filibuster in the 100-member body.

Sarah Palin weighed in on the health care debate Friday night.

WASHINGTON (CNN)– Revisiting some of her campaign trail talking points, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin weighed in on the Senate health care vote, criticizing the Democrats and Majority Leader Harry Reid for a lack of transparency.

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for yet another weekend vote (commonplace now for the party of "transparency") because he knows that the American people will be none too happy about the Democrats' proposal the longer they have to look it over," Palin wrote late Friday night in a posting on her Facebook page.

Republicans, who have expressed opposition to the Democrats' bill from the beginning, have threatened to read the full 2,074 page bill during Senate debate, claiming the more Americans hear about what is in the bill, the less they will like it.

Palin went on to talk about features in the bill: government spending, abortion, and help for special needs children.

"While this Saturday night vote might seem like a procedural matter, at the end of the day a vote against Senator Reid's motion is a vote against massive new government spending and a take-over of 1/6th of the U.S. economy; it's a vote against billions in tax increases and penalties; it's a vote against federal funding of abortion; and it's a vote against ignoring responsible tort reform," Palin wrote. "Among the provisions in this bill will be a $2,500 cap on Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs). The IRS allows families with special needs children to use FSAs to cover educational expenses. This new $2,500 cap will hit these families especially hard and cost them hundreds of dollars in new taxes every year."

Palin concluded by encouraging Americans to voice their opposition to their senators before the vote.
"The American people don't support this – we support the commonsense solutions that have been proposed, but totally ignored by (at this point) some out-of-control Washington politicians. Let's put a stop to Obamacare before it goes any further," she wrote.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Senate Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas said Saturday she will support bringing the Senate health care reform bill to the floor for debate, giving Democrats the 60 votes they need to prevent a Republican filibuster.

"Although I don't agree with everything in this bill, I believe it is important to begin this debate," she said. "This issue is very complex. There is no easy fix," she said in making her announcement on the Senate floor, just hours before Saturday night's 8 p.m. procedural vote.

Earlier Saturday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, became the 59th lawmaker to agree to vote for debate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said Saturday she has decided to support a floor debate on the Senate's health care reform bill.

But she added a caveat on the floor of the Senate: "My vote today to move forward on this important debate should in no way be construed by the supporters of this current framework as an indication of how I might vote as this debate comes to an end.

HAPPENING NOW: Click her to watch the debate live

"It is a vote to move forward to continue the good and essential and important and imperative work that is under way."

Sixty votes are needed to move the controversial bill to the floor for discussion. The legislative body is expected to vote Saturday night. The only senator who has not publicly announced how she will vote on the debate question is Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

–CNN's Dana Bash contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana on Saturday said she has decided to support a floor debate on the Senate's health care reform bill, according to two Democratic sources.

Sixty votes are needed to move the controversial bill to the floor for discussion. The legislative body is expected to vote Saturday night.

Landrieu had said she's concerned about the bill's costs to small businesses and individuals, and is opposed to a public health insurance option "that will undermine the private insurance market."

"This 2,000-page bill will drive up the cost of health care insurance and medical care, not down, increase taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars, cut Medicare for senior citizens by hundreds of billions of dollars, grow the federal government by over $2.4 trillion in new spending, push the needy uninsured into a failing Medicaid system, impose a damaging unfunded mandate on our struggling states, leave millions of Americans uninsured, and establish a massive governmental intrusion into management of our health care economy," the Senator from Idaho said. "This is not true health care reform and this is not what the American people want."

Outlining the Republican plan, Crapo emphasized the importance of helping small businesses get affordable health insurance, educating Americans on how to make healthy choices, and allowing people to purchase insurance outside of their own state.

Crapo also encouraged American's to get online and read the bill for themselves.

If he's successful, Senate Democrats can breathe a sigh of a relief momentarily - but it's too early for them to celebrate. The road to final passage of health care legislation is still long and bumpy.

Reid needs 60 votes for the procedural vote this weekend, another 60 votes to close debate - which could last for weeks - but only 51 for final passage. Reid has said he hopes to vote on the final bill before the end of the year. President Obama's original deadline for Congress was last August.

The House passed its version of health care reform two weeks ago, with 220 representatives voting in favor and 215 against. Thirty-nine Democrats opposed the plan and one Republican supported it.

But it's a tougher fight for Democrats in the Senate, where it is much easier for the GOP minority to stifle the will of the Democratic majority.

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Vice President Joe Biden will speak Saturday night at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner in Iowa.

WASHINGTON (CNN)– Vice President Joe Biden will be in Iowa Saturday as a special guest at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

Joining Biden will be Gov. Chet Culver, Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, and Reps. Bruce Braley and Leonard Boswell. According to the Iowa Democratic Party, Sen. Tom Harkin is also expected to speak, but may miss the event if he's delayed by the Senate health care vote Saturday.

The annual dinner is one of the biggest Democratic fundraising events of the year, usually kicking off the presidential primary season. In 2007, then-candidate Barack Obama's speech at the dinner has been credited to launching his path to the Democratic nomination. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and Biden also spoke in 2007. Speakers in past years include former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore.

The event is being held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.

UPDATE: According to the Iowa Democratic Party, Sen. Tom Harkin will not be able to attend the dinner Saturday night, but has filmed a message to be played at the event.

Bishops slam 'unacceptable' health care bill .

Washington (CNN)– The US Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a strongly worded letter to members of the US Senate Friday, terming the abortion language in the Senate Democrats' health care bill "completely unacceptable."

"The new Senate bill is an enormous disappointment, creating new and completely unacceptable federal policy that endangers human life and rights of conscience," reads the letter obtained by CNN Congressional Producer Deirdre Walsh.

The bishops proved their power in the House, when, following direct negotiations with the House Speaker, they forced House Democratic leaders to allow a vote on the Stupak amendment, which introduced firmer restrictions on abortion funding.

The language in the Senate bill regarding abortion coverage is not as specific as the House bill passed earlier this month. In their letter to the Senate, the bishops ask for a similar measure to be added.

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Senate Ethics Committee clears Burris of legal wrongdoing.

Washington (CNN) –The Senate Ethics Committee issued a letter Friday admonishing embattled Illinois Sen. Roland Burris "for actions and statements reflecting unfavorably upon the Senate" in connection with his controversial appointment by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"While the committee did not find that the evidence before it supported
any actionable violations of law, senators must meet a much higher standard of conduct," the letter stated.

Burris, currently the only African-American U.S. senator, is serving the remaining two years of President Barack Obama's Senate term, but he has never been embraced by his party's leaders in Illinois or Capitol Hill.

He was appointed to the seat last December by Blagojevich, who was later impeached, removed from office and arrested on federal corruption charges alleging that he tried to sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder.

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OFA fundraising off Palin book tour.

Washington (CNN) - The Democratic Party's fundraising off of Sarah Palin's "dangerous" book tour.

"Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn," wrote Organizing for America director Mitch Stewart in a message sent to supporters Friday.

"It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term 'Death Panels' - and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.

The group, the president's political arm at the Democratic National Committee, set a goal of raising $500,000 over the next week "to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies." OFA said the contributions will be used to respond to those attacks via ads, events, and phone banking congressional offices.

Sens. Jack Reed, left, Dick Durbin and Robert Menendez, right, hold a news conference about health care Friday at the Captiol.

Washington (CNN) – To debate or not to debate the Senate's health care reform bill; that is the question.

The legislative body on Saturday is expected to vote on whether to begin debate - also known as invoking cloture - on its version of the health care bill, which was introduced Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid says the 2,074-page bill would expand health insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans at an estimated cost of $849 billion over 10 years. A House bill was passed nearly two weeks ago.

Proceedings begin at 10 a.m. and will last through the early evening.

Around 8 p.m., the Senate will hold a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture.

Reid needs 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to overcome a certain GOP filibuster attempt and open the chamber's debate on the bill. It would take another 60 votes to close debate that could last for weeks, while final approval of the bill would require only a simple majority.

So how will the Democratic leadership get the magic number 60?

Full Story:

New York (CNNMoney.com) – The health care bill that faces a crucial test vote in the Senate on Saturday is proof that getting reform passed and getting it right are two very different things.

Both are hard. But the pursuit of votes has weakened key elements with the most promise of reducing overall health spending.

Exhibit A: The eleventh-hour introduction of a Medicare tax hike as a way to help pay for reform.

Health care reform, to succeed, must not only help more people get coverage but also slow the growth in health costs and spending.

Full Story:

Sanford impeachment measure to be formally considered.

(CNN) – A special House committee in South Carolina will formally consider an impeachment resolution against Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next Tuesday, the Republican chairman of the committee told CNN Friday.

The resolution, filed by a handful of House Republicans earlier this week, will be examined by an ad hoc committee of seven lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

The group will meet for the first time next week, after Sanford provides the legislature with the results of a state Ethics Commission investigation into the governor's travel expenses, Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Harrison said.

The first meeting of the special committee on Tuesday will likely focus on Sanford's infamous trip to Argentina this summer, which led to revelations of an extramarital affair and calls for his resignation. Harrison said the group will then spend the Thanksgiving holiday poring over the Ethics Commission report before meeting again in December to include any additional language in the resolution.

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