GOP derides health care bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican leader Mitch McConnell says the health care overhaul will create a "massive and unsustainable debt" after a vote to advance the legislation in the Senate.

The vote split along party lines, with 39 Republicans lined up in opposition. Fifty-eight Democrats and the chamber's two independents voted in favor of moving ahead with debate.

The vote clears the way for debate beginning after Thanksgiving on the legislation.

McConnell cast the vote as a referendum on a bill he says will raise taxes, cut Medicare and create a "massive and unsustainable debt."

In hours of debate before Saturday night's vote, a few Republicans piled copies of the more than 2,000-page bill on their desks. Others criticized it as a government takeover of health care and worse.

GOP Sen. Kit Bond likened the bill's supporters to Wall Street's disgraced financier, saying "Move over, Bernie Madoff. Tip your hat to a trillion-dollar scam."