Harkin: Senate may spend Christmas debating health-care

By James Q. Lynch

The Gazette

Sen. Tom Harkin doesn't plan on spending Christmas at the Capitol, but the Iowa Democrat doesn't rule it out.

Senate Democrats have agreed to work through the Christmas recess if necessary to complete work on a health-care reform bill, Harkin said Friday.

While it's more likely the Senate will knock off Dec. 24 and leave Washington for a long weekend if they haven't approved the proposed health-care legislation.

“But it's not beyond the realm of possibilities” that senators will be debating Christmas Day, he said. “Someone said the other day that our troops are on the line Christmas Day. They don't get the day off.

Senators are meeting constantly to work through differences on abortion language and the public option or government-run insurance program.

“We'll get our way through this bill. I have no fear of that,” he said. “We're serious about this. We're on health care from now on.”

Throughout the summer and fall Harkin has been predicting Congress would have the health-care bill on the president's desk by Christmas. However, the lengthy negotiations in the Senate Finance Committee and the cost analysis of the bill by the Congressional Budget Office have forced him to adjust his prediction.

“My new schedule is that we'll have the bill done by Christmas, certainly by New Year's and we'll have it to the president in January,” he said.