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WASHINGTON (Reuters)—One of three wavering U.S. Senate Democrats said Friday that he would vote to start the chamber's health care debate, bolstering the chances for a broad overhaul one day before its first crucial test.
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he would support a procedural motion on Saturday to allow debate on health care reform to proceed, even though he is still unsure if he will back the final bill.
"Throughout my Senate career, I have consistently rejected efforts to obstruct. That's what the vote on the motion to proceed is all about," he said in a statement.
"It is only to begin debate and an opportunity to make improvements. If you don't like a bill, why block your own opportunity to amend it?" he said.
Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., remain uncommitted on the vote to proceed to debate on the overhaul of the $2.5 trillion health care system, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
The procedural motion requires 60 votes to pass in the 100-member Senate, and Democrats have no margin of error—they control exactly 60 votes.
Republicans so far are united in opposition to the plan unveiled on Wednesday by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., which is designed to rein in costs, expand coverage and bar industry practices like denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
"It would be our hope that our more moderate Democratic colleagues would respect the wishes of their constituents rather than do the bidding of Harry Reid," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., told reporters.
If the Senate takes up the bill, the debate would begin on Nov. 30, after next week's U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. It would last at least three weeks, making it unlikely President Obama can sign a final bill by the end of the year.
Any differences between a Senate bill and the House of Representatives version passed on Nov. 7 would have to be reconciled before a final bill could be voted on again in both houses and sent to President Obama.
The overhaul would lead to the biggest changes in the U.S. health care system—which accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy—since the 1965 creation of the Medicare government health insurance program for the elderly.
Sens. Nelson, Landrieu and Lincoln, moderates from conservative states where the health care overhaul is not popular, have rebelled at Sen. Reid's inclusion of a new government-run public insurance option in the plan.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Sen. Lincoln had told Sen. Reid how she would vote on Saturday. That would indicate she is likely to support it, or Sen. Reid would not have scheduled the vote.
Sen. Reid and the Senate's other Democratic leaders, hoping to avoid an embarrassing setback for President Obama, have been pushing the wavering senators hard to allow the opening of the debate, arguing that they can seek to change the bill as it unfolds.
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