Senate OKs new vote on health care bill

After a marathon vote-a-thon that started just after 5 p.m. Wednesday and ran until 2:45 a.m., and then and then picked up again at 9:45 a.m. Thursday, Senate Democrats had blocked more than 30 amendments proposed by Republicans to the sweeping health-care legislation. But Republicans did find about 16 lines of technical changes that need to be stripped from the bill to meet the rules of the reconciliation process.

The president signed the historic health-care bill on Tuesday. What the Senate had to settle this week were a package of changes approved by Congress as part of a budget reconciliation bill These changes -- the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act -- have to be approved by both houses before the President can sign it. The Senate voted 56 to 43 in favor of the bill.