Manu Raju reports in today's edition of The Hill about Senate Republicans tackling healthcare as a top priority for the next legislative session.  Senator Lamar Alexander, leading the charge to reform healthcare reform effort, has said "we want to put together four words that usually don’t go together — universal access and private sector." Alexander called it a major priority for Republicans in 2008. 

Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT), another leading proponent of health care reform, says “Republicans don’t use the language of universal healthcare because it’s code for a single-payer government-run system.  Now, I’m perfectly willing to embrace universal coverage as long as it’s understood that it’s not a single-payer government-run system, because I do endorse the goal of every American [being] insured.”

Congressional Quarterly ran an article regarding the House and Senate both passing versions of a 2008 spending bill that contains funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many domestic programs.  78 Democrats joined nearly all of the GOP House members in the vote last night to ensure our troops receive the necessary funding to complete their missions, but this funding battle is expected to resurface towards the end of January.