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Washington (CNN) - Support for the health care reform bill that Democrats are pushing through the Senate has risen six points since early December, according to a new national poll, and although a majority of Americans still oppose its passage, only four in ten agree with Senate Republicans that the bill is too liberal.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, also indicates that President Barack Obama's approval rating has experienced a similar six-point rise.

According to the poll, 42 percent of Americans, based on what they've read or heard about the bill, support Senate Democrat's legislation. That's up from 36 percent in a poll conducted December 2-3. Nonetheless, a majority of people questioned in the survey, 56 percent, oppose the bill.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The American Medical Association, a traditional opponent of health care reform, on Monday endorsed the Senate health care bill nearing a final vote in the chamber.

Dr. Cecil Wilson, president-elect of the nation's largest advocacy group for doctors, said at a news conference that the amended bill would solve major problems with the health care system.

"The AMA is pleased to announce its support for passage of the amended ... bill," said Wilson, an internist from Winter Park, Florida. At the same time, Wilson said, the AMA will continue working for additional changes in a final health care bill that results from merging the Senate bill and a House version passed last month.

Wilson became president-elect of the AMA in June, and will serve in that role for a year before becoming president in June 2010.

The AMA has long opposed the kind of health care reform measures contained in the Senate and House bills. It announced this year that it supported health care reform efforts, but had concerns about specific issues such as a proposed expansion of Medicare coverage.

The expanded Medicare provision has been cut from the Senate bill.

TOPICS: Health care, Obama

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Monday called the Senate vote to end its debate and move toward passing a health care bill "a big victory for the American people."

In remarks at the White House, Obama rejected arguments by Republican opponents of the bill that it will increase the federal deficit.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the Senate bill will reduce the deficit by $132 billion in the first 10 years, Obama said.

"That argument that opponents are making against this bill does not hold water," Obama said.

The Senate will hold more procedural votes on the health care bill this week, with a final vote scheduled for Christmas Eve.

The Senate vote on health care reform came shortly after 1 a.m. Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Democrats won a major victory in their push for health care reform early Monday morning as the Senate voted to end debate on a package of controversial proposals to a sweeping $871 billion bill.

The 60 to 40 party line vote - cast shortly after 1 a.m. - kept Senate Democrats on track to pass the bill on Christmas Eve. If it passes, the measure will then have to be merged with a roughly $1 trillion plan passed by House of Representatives in November.

The vote left President Barack Obama on the cusp of claiming victory on his top domestic priority and enacting the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid over four decades ago.

"Today, the Senate took another historic step toward our goal of delivering access to quality, affordable health care to all Americans," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said in a statement.

The bill will help "promote choice and competition to drive down skyrocketing health care costs for families ... all across America."

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Washington (CNN) - Senate Democrats braved the aftermath of a blizzard Sunday to continue their push to pass a sweeping health care bill before Christmas.

The Senate began an all-day session, to be followed by a crucial vote scheduled for after midnight, on changes crafted by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to gain support for the bill from all 60 members of the Democratic caucus.

With Republicans unanimously opposed, Democrats need the support of their entire caucus to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote on the bill later this week.

"We have had a long, arduous and I think sometimes taxing debate to reach this moment," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the chamber's second-ranking Democrat, to open the session. "I think it's time for a vote."

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A confident White House voiced optimism Sunday that President Obama’s signature domestic initiative – health care reform – was “way deep in the red zone” and brushed off criticism from liberals that the administration was too quick to give in to demands from the centrist and conservative Democrats.

Republicans, on the other hand, vowed to try to block final passage despite the Democratic advantages in both the House and Senate. And as they challenged the Democratic health care math as “Enron-style accounting,” said promised deficit reduction would never materialize.

One, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, went as far as saying the tone and tenor of the health care debate was poisoning the political environment and reducing the likelihood Republicans would be able to work with the Obama White House on other issues.
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Washington (CNN) –Senate Democrats appear to have come up with a deal that holds their fragile caucus together in the face of a promised Republican filibuster of health care reform, but a top Democratic backer said Sunday that the fight for more progressive principles in the bill is not over.

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, walked a fine line between continuing to express support for President Obama and threatening liberal grassroots action in the final stages of the year-long fight over health care reform or even ultimately withholding his influential union’s support for the final bill that could be presented to Obama early next year.

Asked about the Senate’s use of a tax on so-called high-premium, “Cadillac” insurance plans to help pay the bill’s nearly $900 billion price tag, Stern suggested his union would continue to oppose the tax.

“What we've done and what we do is fight for what we believe in,” Stern told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King.

“So, where we are now is we're saying to the president, to the House and to the Senate, we get another shot in the conference committee to deal with affordability issues,” Stern also said Sunday. “People need to be able to afford it, and that's what the fight is about.”
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Washington (CNN) – In an exclusive appearance on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, conservative Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson responded to criticism of his role in pushing the Senate health care reform bill forward and keeping the legislation on a path for a final vote in the Senate by Christmas.

Related: Senate Dems win over key holdouts to reach 60 votes for reform bill

Since his announcement Saturday that he would be the crucial 60th vote necessary to secure cloture on the health care reform bill and avoid a likely Republican filibuster, Nelson has faced a storm of criticism from conservatives in both parties – and some liberal groups.

“I couldn't create the opportunity to be the 60th vote. It happened,” Nelson said on State of the Union. “If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in good faith, just think, it's like going home and getting bit by the family dog. So - who enjoys that?” Nelson also said Sunday.

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Washington (CNN) – Saying the White House and congressional Democrats were using “backroom deals that amount to bribes,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham slammed Democratic efforts to pass health care reform.

Speaking Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, Graham, R-South Carolina, took issue with a campaign trail pledge made by the Obama campaign to change how things work in Washington.

Obama and his team “ran a brilliant campaign,” Graham told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King,” but they're doing a lousy job governing the country, in my view.”

“You know, change you can believe in,” Graham said referring to a frequent theme of Obama’s underdog presidential campaign, “after this health care bill debacle, [that] has now becoming an empty slogan. And it's really been replaced by seedy Chicago politics, when you think about it, backroom deals that amount to bribes.”

Acknowledging that those were strong words, Graham backed up his assertions by pointing to a number of attributes of the health care reform bill now under consideration in the Senate. “This bill personifies the worst of Washington,” Graham said Sunday.
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Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama thinks a Senate proposal to tax insurance companies that provide high-cost "Cadillac" health care coverage has merit, his senior adviser said Sunday.

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Obama aide David Axelrod provided few details but offered some insight into how the president views aspects of emerging health care reform legislation.

“I think there’s a will to get this done,” Axelrod said of the end game of a national debate that has roiled for months. “People understand we’re on the doorstep of doing something really historic.

The House has passed its version of the bill, and Senate Democrats prepared to brave the aftermath of a blizzard Sunday in their push to pass their health care measure before Christmas. If the Senate passes a bill, the two versions would be merged into a final measure requiring approval from both chambers before going to Obama to be signed into law.

While the House and Senate bills agree on most issues, there are significant differences over how to pay for them and how they will expand health coverage to more than 30 million Americans currently uninsured.
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Washington (CNN) - U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska threw his support Saturday behind the Democrats' health care reform bill, giving the party the crucial backing it needed to avoid a Republican filibuster that would prevent a Senate vote.

The first of a series of votes is set for Monday at 1 a.m. on a so-called manager's amendment, consisting of amendments crafted in the last one and a half weeks by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

At the request of Republicans, the entire amendments package - 383 pages - was being read Saturday, for hours, on the Senate floor.

The Senate could vote on the entire bill - a top priority of President Barack Obama - before Christmas.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said the latest version of the Senate health care bill "is a legislative train wreck of historic proportions."

"If they were proud of this bill they wouldn't be doing it this way," McConnell said. "They wouldn't be jamming it through in the middle of the night on the last weekend before Christmas."

McConnell said the legislation "will have a profound impact on our nation. This is not renaming a post office. Make no mistake, this bill will reshape our nation and our lives."

Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York spent most of Friday trying to answer concerns by Nelson, who had been the lone Democratic holdout because of his objections to public funding for abortions. According to Schumer, the three men finally shook hands on a deal at 11 p.m.

Nelson's backing gave the Democrats the crucial 60 votes needed to move the bundle of recent amendments, which involved a spate of compromises, to the Senate floor.

"Change is never easy, but change is what's necessary in America today. That's why I intend to vote for cloture and for health care reform," the Nebraska Democrat told reporters.

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Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama said the health care reform bill now in the Senate would be the largest deficit-reduction measure in a decade.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, it will offer a decrease of $132 billion over the first decade, and more than $1 trillion in the 10 years after that.

Washington (CNN) – Partisan tensions exploded Friday as Republicans laced into Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's possible plan to unveil a revised Senate health care bill over the weekend and pass it before Christmas.

The self-imposed holiday deadline loomed large as Reid struggled to win the support of socially conservative Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson and to unify his fractious 60-member caucus. If the minority Republicans remain solid in opposition, the backing of every member of the Democratic caucus will be required to end Senate debate and proceed to a vote on final passage.

Final Senate passage - potentially slated for Christmas Eve - would then require a simple majority of 51 votes.

Adding to Reid's complications is growing anger among liberal activists over compromises made to win the backing of more moderate Democrats. Congress is also waiting for a critical new cost analysis of the revised bill by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

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(CNN) - MoveOn – which has spent millions this fall on campaigns pressing conservative Democrats to support health care reform – is now calling on members to fight the bill currently being considered by the Senate.

The group has launched a petition drive to push liberal lawmakers like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold to block the bill in its current form unless significant changes are made.

Earlier this week, Sanders indicated he was not sure he could back the bill as it now stands.

"(T)here's enormous pressure from all sides to pass a bill quickly, no matter how weak it is," MoveOn organizers said in a message sent to members Friday. "Let's show Bernie and other progressives that we're counting on them to block this version of the bill–and we'll get their backs if they do."

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Washington (CNN) – Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson told a Nebraska radio station Thursday that he will not vote for the Senate health care bill as it stands because of concerns over insurance coverage for abortions and other unresolved issues.

Nelson, who could be the crucial 60th vote the Democrats need to overcome a Republican filibuster, said the bill "as it is now, without further modifications, it isn't sufficient" and that he will not vote for it.

"If it is not at the point that I think it needs to be with the improvements that I'm pushing, and they've made a lot of them, then I will not vote on cloture on the motion to end debate," Nelson told KLIN on Thursday.

Nelson received a compromise proposal on abortion language Wednesday from another anti-abortion Democrat, Sen. Bob Casey. The Nebraska senator said there the proposal represented "lot of improvement on the legislation, (but) the basic question on the funding of abortion has not been fully answered yet."

When asked if the bill would get through the Senate by Christmas, the senator - who also said he had continuing tax and cost questions about the bill - asked if the radio host was "talking about this Christmas or next" and said he was "more concerned about getting it right."

Washington (CNN) - During a press conference on Wednesday, Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin pointed to Republican Sen. Jim DeMint's Twitter account as the smoking gun – or as he called it, the "smoking tweet" – showing the Republicans' strategy to slow down the health care bill.

"If there's any idea, any question in mind about motive and what's behind this, I have in my hand a smoking tweet," Durbin said.

Pointing to a piece of paper, Durbin proceeded to read two of DeMint's tweets: "'If Reid won't slow down this debate, we'll do it for him,' followed by, 'Coburn forced Dems to read 767 pg Sanders amendment, we'll do everything we can to stop this government takeover of health care.'"

The press conference was held by Durbin and Sen. Robert Menendez to discuss "GOP obstruction" to the health care bill.

Wesly Denton, DeMint's Communications Director, told CNN he was "flattered that [Durbin] is paying so much attention to DeMint's Twitter account," but added, "DeMint's been clear for months he wants to stop this bill."