The AP (11/20) reports that the Senate "will hold its first vote on healthcare legislation on Saturday night and Democrats will need 60 votes to prevail." Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "announced the schedule on the Senate floor, one day after unveiling a nearly $1 trillion bill to expand health coverage."

        The CBS Evening News (11/19, lead story, 2:30, Couric) opened with the healthcare story, reporting, "It's down now to two healthcare reform bills, the one the House passed two weeks ago and the one" Reid has finalized. Reid "hasn't locked up the 60 votes he needs to get it through. His bill would extend coverage to 94 percent of Americans, the House bill, 96 percent."

        ABC World News (11/19, story 3, 2:35, Gibson) reported that the Senate bill is "one of the most expensive bills ever taken up by Congress. The legislation runs more than 2,000 pages. It would take an estimated 48 hours to read it." ABC (Karl) added, "The bill would expand coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans, require most people to get insurance or pay a fine, and provide subsidies for lower income households. Total cost: $848 billion over 10 years. To pay for it: nearly $500 billion in reduced Medicare spending and about $500 billion in new taxes, mostly on insurance companies and wealthier Americans. And it adds a new five percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery, the so-called the 'Botax.'"

        The New York Times (11/20, A24, Pear) adds that the Saturday vote will be "on whether to take up the legislation." Reid "refused to say Thursday whether he had the 60 votes needed to clear that procedural hurdle." The Senate bill "would spend $821 billion over 10 years on Medicaid and subsidies. The House bill would spend 25 percent more: $1.03 trillion over 10 years."

        In a front-page story, the Washington Post (11/20, A1, Montgomery, Murray) reported that Sen. Reid "worked Thursday to nail down the votes" needed. Reid is focusing on Sens. Mary Landrieu (LA), Blanche Lincoln (AR), and Ben Nelson (NE), "moderate Democrats who oppose various provisions in the bill and have not declared whether they will support efforts to advance it." Sen. Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT) said he "will vote with Democrats on Saturday to begin debate. But Lieberman has said he would vote against final passage if the bill includes any version of a government insurance plan." According to Politico (11/20, Raju), Lieberman's "threat to filibuster any healthcare bill with a public option could kill health reform this year -- and embolden Democratic challengers who'd like to send him packing in 2012." The Hill (11/20, Young) and the Washington Times (11/20, Haberkorn) also cover the story.

        Orszag says "fundamental" reform on horizon. In a Washington Post (11/20, A23) op-ed, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag writes, "The nation stands on the verge of achieving fundamental healthcare reform. ... For more than 30 years, healthcare costs have risen much more rapidly than either inflation or the growth of the economy -- yet these higher costs are not delivering higher-quality care for Americans." Orszag says reform must include "deficit neutrality," an "excise tax on the highest-cost insurance plans," a way "for the health system to keep pace with innovation and the dynamic healthcare marketplace," and a means "to create incentives to improve the way healthcare is delivered."

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