Senate Dems defeat health care repeal measure

Senate Democrats remained united on Wednesday in killing a Republican effort to repeal the health care bill signed into law last March.

As expected, no Democrats voted against a procedural motion that effectively defeated a GOP amendment -- sponsored by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and tacked on to an unrelated aviation bill -- to repeal the health legislation.

All Republicans voted together in favor of the McConnell-sponsored amendment. The vote was 47-51.

The House passed the repeal measure last month.

But the defeat of the equivalent legislation in the Senate means that the ultimate fate of the health care bill will likely not be settled until the Supreme Court hears an expected constitutional challenge to the law -- particularly its mandate that most Americans buy insurance.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/02/5977699-united-senate-dems-defeat-health-care-repeal-measure-