WASHINGTON – Outnumbered Republicans are pledging to delay passage of historic health care legislation as long as possible after jubilant Democrats locked in Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson as the 60th and decisive vote.
Nelson's backing puts President Barack Obama's signature issue firmly on a path for Christmas Eve passage. Democrats will need to show 60 votes on two additional occasions, with the next — and most critical — test vote set for about 1 a.m. Monday.
"This bill is a legislative train wreck of historic proportions," the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said at a Saturday news conference. He pointed to cuts to Medicare that the Congressional Budget Office said totaled more than $470 billion over a decade, with reductions in planned payments to home health care agencies and hospices. He also said the bill includes "massive tax increases" at a time of double-digit unemployment.
With senators set to resume debate Sunday afternoon, Republicans note the CBO concluded that under the bill, "federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010-2019 period, as would the federal budgetary commitment to health care."
To get Nelson's vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed to a series of concessions on abortion and other issues demanded by Nelson, a Democrat, and then informed Obama of the agreement as the president flew home from climate talks in Copenhagen.
Obama welcomed the breakthrough, saying in a statement at the White House, "After a nearly centurylong struggle, we are on the cusp of making health care reform a reality in the United States of America."
The CBO said the Senate bill would extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans who lack it. It also imposes new regulations to curb abuses of the insurance industry, and the president noted one last-minute addition would impose penalties on companies that "arbitrarily jack up prices" in advance of the legislation taking effect.
CBO analysts also said the legislation would cut federal deficits by $132 billion over 10 years and possibly much more in the subsequent decade.
At its core, the legislation would create a new insurance exchange where consumers could shop for affordable coverage that complied with new federal guidelines. Most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, with federal subsidies available to help defray the cost for lower and middle income individuals and families.
In a concession to Nelson and other moderates, the bill lacks a government-run insurance option of the type that House Democrats inserted into theirs. In a final defeat for liberals, a proposed Medicare expansion was also jettisoned in the past several days as Reid and the White House maneuvered for 60 votes.

WASHINGTON – The Senate cleared its year-end plate of some must-do work Saturday as it passed a critical budget bill that blends money for the Pentagon with additional help for the jobless.
The early morning 88-10 vote, taken as a blizzard buffeted the Capitol, permitted lawmakers to resume their acrimonious debate on health care, which Democrats now expect to finish by Christmas. The spending measure now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.
It wraps up work on perhaps Congress' most fundamental job: funding the annual budgets of Cabinet agencies and the rest of the government.
But the $626 billion defense bill measure also demonstrated the failings of a Congress unable to address many of its most pressing tasks, such as passing a highway bill and making sure doctors don't absorb a 21 percent hit in Medicare payments. In a boon for the wealthy, the estate tax temporarily will expire Jan. 1, even as people inheriting smaller amounts will face larger capital gains bills.
Having run out of time and patience, Democrats used the must-pass Pentagon measure to drag along several two-month extensions of expiring legislation. They include unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, health care subsidies for those out of work, highway and transit money and parts of the terrorism-fighting Patriot Act.
Resolving those issues in February would clutter next year's agenda as Obama's Democratic allies turn to trying to rein in the spiraling budget deficit and passing his upcoming request for additional troops in Afghanistan, which promises to be a very difficult task.
The impressive vote Saturday was evidence of the broad support for paying for troops fighting overseas and other elements of the Pentagon budget. The path to that point, however, was poisoned with partisanship as Republicans sought to derail the measure in an effort to stretch out action on health care past Christmas.
"Senate Republicans have made us jump through every procedural hurdle just to have this vote and threatened to block funding for our troops — all in order to delay us from debating health care reform," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "It is incomprehensible that Republicans would even threaten to stop funding our troops and helping those who are struggling."
Just four Republicans joined with Democrats on an important test requiring 60 votes. Confident that Republicans such as Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi would vote with them, Democratic leaders gave the OK for Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent and Orthodox Jew who caucuses with Democrats, spend the eighth night of Hanukkah with his family.
Others strapped on their snow boots, grabbed their parkas and trooped to a Capitol that was engulfed in a whiteout by noon.
A Christmas eve vote looms on the health care bill. After that, the Senate also must deal with one other politically sensitive measure: raising the $12.1 trillion debt ceiling by $290 billion so the Treasury can continue to borrow to keep the government running and avoid a first-ever default on U.S. obligations.
The defense bill, which contains $128 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and a 3.4 percent pay raise for the military, enjoyed wide support. Just nine Republicans opposed pork barrel projects and some of the add-ons voted against the bill, as did anti-war Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.
To ensure there's enough time for the formal process of getting that bill to Obama, the Senate immediately approved a temporary measure to fund Pentagon operations through Dec. 23.
The bill caps a battle between Obama and Congress over weapons systems. Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates prevailed in their effort to kill the super-expensive F-22 fighter program and a much maligned and over-budget new presidential helicopter.
But proponents of an alternative engine for the next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter outmaneuvered the administration, saving jobs in Ohio, Indiana and other states. The main F-35 engine is built in Connecticut by Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp.
In twin victories for the Boeing Co., the Senate measure includes $2.5 billion to fund 10 C-17 cargo planes assembled in Long Beach, Calif., which were not requested, and money for nine more F-18 Navy fighters than Obama requested. They would be assembled in St. Louis.
The president has yet to request funds for his recently announced troop increase in Afghanistan, and there is no money in the bill for that.
The measure also trims personnel and maintenance accounts from previous versions of the measure to pump up weapons procurement for Afghanistan and Iraq by almost $2 billion.

The defense measure would trim $900 million from the Pentagon's $7.5 billion budget to train Afghan security forces. It would use the money to buy about 1,400 additional mine-resistance vehicles suited for rugged conditions in Afghanistan. Lawmakers say the training program can't absorb that much money in the coming year, so they used it for other purposes.

The measure also caps an emotional debate over closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. While it omits Obama's $100 million request to close the facility, it permits Guantanamo detainees to be transferred to the U.S. to stand trial.

WASHINGTON – The Pell Grant program for needy college students is facing a massive shortfall as the country's bleak job market drives people back to school.
An administration official says the program will cost $18 billion more than Congress and the White House had anticipated over the next three years. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the budget, spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official said the administration is working with Congress to fill the gap and is committed to making sure the U.S. has an educated work force.
The shortfall is the largest in the history of the program, which cost the government about $18 billion last year.

MANCHESTER (AFP) –
Brazil star Robinho has told his Manchester City team-mates to aim for the top of the table after their 2-1 win over English Premier League leaders Chelsea last weekend.

Despite that victory - which ended a run of seven straight league draws - City are 11 points adrift of Chelsea, albeit they have a game in hand.

And Robinho, a British record 32.5 million pounds (52.8 million dollars) signing, insists the expensively-assembled City side should have ambitions as big as their price tags.

"We were really happy to win on Saturday," said Robinho. "But the most important thing now is to win. There are still a lot of games to go and we want to be top."

Robinho has recently returned from an ankle injury that sidelined him for three months and, despite not being used to playing at this time of year while with Spanish giants Real Madrid, he cannot wait for the busy Christmas and New Year fixture schedule.

"I am just happy to be playing," said the 25-year-old. "I feel excellent. I am strong, physically and mentally, and I want to play in every game. I like to play football anywhere, at any time."

City could have Craig Bellamy back for Saturday's league match away to Bolton despite both the Wales striker and Vladimir Weiss missing the Chelsea game to avoid passing on the swine flu virus to their team-mates.

"Players come in every day with sniffles, coughs and colds and the doctor has to determine whether it is the onset of something more serious," assistant manager Mark Bowen told the Manchester Evening News.

"It is his decision whether they have to be sent home."

Someone who won't be featuring at the Reebok Stadium this weekend is England defender Wayne Bridge.

The former Chelsea full-back was carried off on a stretcher last Saturday after a clash with Juliano Belletti.

Scans have since revealed Bridge suffered a knee injury which could put him out of action for up to six weeks.

If that diagnosis is correct, it would mean Bridge would miss both legs of City's League Cup semi-final against Manchester United as well as the FA Cup third round tie with Middlesbrough.

But Bowen hopes Bridge will be back sooner than expected.

"It depends on his recovery but Wayne tells us he is a good healer and he is a good professional, so we are hoping it will be sooner," he said.