MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It is a big vote on a big bill that could bring big change. And it's taking place right now in the Senate. Jonathan Karl there to tell us more about the Medicare bill and how the voting is going -- Jonathan.</s>JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Marty, this is a critical test vote going on right now on the Senate floor. Republican needed 60 votes to overcome a Democrat filibuster that was blocking this bill. They now -- the voting is going on. They now have at least 65 votes, which means they have enough votes, more than enough votes, to pass the prescription drug bill for Medicare. That 65 votes mean they have at least 14, probably 15 Democratic senators that have already voted with the Republican leadership on this to allow there to be a final vote on Medicare. So this is not the end of the road, but it's certainly an indication that Republicans have more than enough votes to get the bill passed. That's a big victory for Republican leadership, and an even bigger victory for the president -- Marty.</s>SAVIDGE: Assuming that this bill does pass, what happens next to it?</s>KARL: What you have now is a procedural vote. Once this goes down, the Democrats may come up with yet another procedural vote which will again require 60 votes. That may be closer, because Democratic leaders actually voted in favor of ending this filibuster because they didn't want to be seen as blocking the bill in that way. So you will have one more procedural hurdle that Republicans will have to overcome if they are to get this bill passed. That would happen sometime in probably the next hour or so. And then you have some hours of debate that have to go on. The final vote may be tonight, but it's possible that it could go until tomorrow.</s>SAVIDGE: Jonathan Karl, I told you you'd be back. Thanks very much. Keeping us posted.</s>KARL: All right.
Expanding Medicare: Drug Coverage Votes