Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, gestures during a health care reform news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday. From left are, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., McConnell, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Ariz. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The senate's new health care reform bill is being praised by President Barack Obama and members of his party but senate Republicans led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say, it's a tough pill to swallow.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued last Sunday that Republicans deserve at least six additional weeks to consider health care reform before letting the bill come to a vote. But on Friday, his top lieutenant said the entire GOP has already made up its mind on the legislation.

WASHINGTON -- When Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, heard a few weeks ago that the House took less than an hour to approve an unemployment bill that had languished for a month in the Senate, aides said he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

The U.S. Senate voted 60-39 Saturday night to proceed with a floor debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid's $848 billion health care bill. The vote to prevent a Republican filibuster against starting debate broke down along strict party lines.

Health care reform backers won a key victory Saturday night as the Senate voted to move ahead with a floor debate on a sweeping $848 billion bill.

President Barack Obama's signature drive to remake US health care barely cleared a key Senate hurdle in a narrow party-line vote the White House immediately hailed as an "historic" victory.

The Senate hopes to spend December debating the health care bill, but time is running out on other difficult and significant issues that must be resolved by the end of the year.

This year in the Senate, even popular bills and generally acceptable executive branch nominees have had to traverse a time-consuming procedural thicket.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted Saturday to begin floor debate on an $848 billion healthcare bill backers say would extend coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans.