GOP targets Pentagon to impede healthcare bill

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Senate Republicans said they would try to filibuster a massive Pentagon bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an unusual move that several acknowledged was an effort to delay President Obama’s healthcare legislation. Late into the night, Democrats emerged from a huddle confident that they would muster the 60 votes needed to thwart the GOP effort at blocking the military spending bill. An antiwar liberal, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), said he would set aside his reservations and support choking off the filibuster to keep the Senate on a timeline of holding a final healthcare vote before Christmas.

The vote on the defense spending bill was to occur after 1 a.m. Friday.

Republicans have said their goal is to block the healthcare legislation and force Democrats to go home and face their constituents, hoping for some supporters of the legislation to return to the Capitol too fearful to back it.

-- Washington Post