Senate Democrats vote to bring health bill to floor for debate

A sweeping healthcare overhaul narrowly cleared its first hurdle in the US Senate, with Democrats casting 60 party-line votes to open debate on the biggest healthcare changes in decades. In the first Senate test for President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, Democrats unanimously backed a procedural motion to open Senate debate over the opposition of 39 Senate Republicans. Republican George Voinovich did not vote. Democrats needed 60 votes to approve the motion in the 100-member Senate and had no margin for error -- they control exactly 60 votes and Republicans were united in opposition. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell condemned the bill as a costly government intrusion in the private sector that would raise insurance premiums, reduce consumer choices and raise taxes. The Democratic victory was assured earlier in the day when the party's last two holdouts, Blanche Lincoln and Mary Landrieu, said they would support the motion but would not commit to backing the final bill without changes. The Senate debate will begin on November 30 and is expected to last at least three weeks. The House of Representatives has passed its own version, and differences in the two would have to be reconciled in January before Obama could sign a final measure.  The healthcare reform bill would expand coverage to millions of uninsured and bar insurance practices like denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. The legislation would spark the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion healthcare system -- which accounts for one-sixth of the US economy -- since the 1965 creation of the Medicare government health insurance plan for the elderly.