According to a Tulsa World report, Conservative Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said: “Washington plays a game of gotcha”.

“It pains me that Republicans are saying Harry Reid ought to step down”, Coburn said. “When you point a finger, you have four fingers pointing back at you. There is not anybody in Washington who has not said something that could be judged inappropriate and wrong”.

Similarly, Nevada native and Republican Sen. John Ensign said on Reno’s KKOH radio that “we need to get away from this politics of gotcha”.

“I don’t think there’s a person walking, certainly not a politician out there, that hasn’t made comments they regret”, he said. “When you make those comments, as long as you take responsibility for your comments and apologise for them, I think people should accept that”.

Reid’s comments on US President Barack Obama as a fine presidential candidate because he is “light skinned” and speaks “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one” has been criticised as a racial slur. Obama had accepted Reid’s apologies afterwards.

Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, said that the treatment given to Reid is a “stunning double standard”. He added that keeping Reid in the senate post is unfair since former Senator Trent Lott was booted out after his comments about Strom Thurmond.

The move was commended by U.S. President Barack Obama who said that the Senate now has to “take the baton” for the completion of the work. He added that he is “absolutely confident” that the Senate will pass their version of the bill and described those who supported it as “courageous”.

When asked about the reaction the Republican party, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, the only House Republican who gave a “yes” for the bill, said that his fellow party members “respect my decision, and I respect theirs.”

“I felt last night’s decision was the proper decision for my district even though it was not the popular decision for my party,” he added. “A lot of my constituents are uninsured, a lot of them are poor. It was the right decision for the people of my district.”

The passing of the bill did not please most republicans including leader John Boehner of Ohio, who believes that the $1.2 trillion bill is another blow to the country’s debt.

“I came here to renew the American Dream, so my kids and their kids have the same opportunities I had,” he said. “I came here to fight big-government monstrosities like this bill that dim the light of freedom and diminish opportunity for future generations.”

The amendment includes the prohibition of providing federal aid to purchase private insurance policies that cover abortion except in cases that brings danger to the mother, rape cases and incest. The original bill would have included the coverage of abortion in the government health plan, which includes giving federal subsidies to the people.

“Let us stand together on principle – no public funding for abortions, no public funding for insurance policies that pay for abortions,” Stupak told lawmakers.

Advocates of abortion rights considered the move as a blow to women’s reproductive rights, while anti-abortion Democrats pushed the legislation to the House for a voting process to take place.

“Like it or not, this is a legal medical procedure and we should respect those who need to make this very personal decision,” Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo, said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meanwhile, said that they will not stand for the bill if it did not include a restriction on federal funding for the abortion act.

Coverage for abortion is currently included in the private market. Eighty-seven percent of employer plans covered abortion in 2002, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In 2003, 46 employees had abortion coverage based on the Kaiser Family Foundation survey. As for the abortion cost according to Planned Parenthood, the first trimester price is marked from $350-$900.

“[T]his is not just about nation building,” McConnell told Bob Schieffer of Face the Nation. “This is about protecting the United States of America. We know that we can’t have a haven over there for the reconstitution of al Qaeda.”

The senator considers the Karzai government in Afghanistan a “flawed administration” but supports the US-Afghanistan partnership as a way to protect the United States.

“We know that [Afghanistan] has been a haven for terrorists in the past. We don’t want to let it become a haven for terrorists again,” McConnell said.

McConnell also commented on the Obama administration employing a different tactic in dealing with the Taliban. “You do get the impression that the administration – at least some in the administration – are trying to distinguish between al Qaeda and the Taliban. Well, they are different, but they are inter-connected,” McConnell said. “We know that when the Taliban was in charge in Afghanistan, al Qaeda was allowed to operate freely. We know they launched the 9/11 attack from there, planned it and launched it from there.”

The Taliban’s resurgence following an attack on a military headquarters in Pakistan has alarmed the Senator. “The Taliban taking over a country like Pakistan would be completely and totally unacceptable, destabilising not only that area of the world but all around,” he said.

With 13-10 votes, the bill proposed by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah lost to the Senate Finance Committee.

Hatch said that he was disappointed with the votes. But he would pursue the issue when the amendments come to the full Senate. “Although these two very important amendments fell short today, you can rest assured that I will continue to fight for these vital issues”, said Hatch.

His first amendment stated that the ban on federal funding for abortions would be applied to all aspects of health insurance, except for cases of incest, rape, or danger to the mother’s health. Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine disputed this amendment, saying that it would lead to another restriction on abortion rights in women with private health insurance.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the committee chairman, commented that the amendment discriminated against women by making them buy supplemental coverage for abortions. He said that he included a language in the proposal to ensure that federal funds would not be used for abortion under the bill.

Hatch’s second amendment focused on prohibiting the government from obliging doctors, healthcare providers, or hospitals to provide abortions.

The committee also voted on a Republican amendment about preventing illegal immigrants from getting government-subsidised heath insurance. This proposal would require participants to show a photo identification card issued by the government, and should have a valid Social Security number.

While the majority voted in favour of Sotomayor, most Republicans said the judge is an “activist” who uses judicial “empathy.” In a morning floor speech, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “A judge must be able to check his or her personal or political agenda at the courtroom door and do justice even-handedly. This is the most fundamental test. It’s a test Judge Sotomayor does not pass,” he added.

In more than four days of Senate hearings last month, the judge defended herself against the charges of racial bias, saying “fidelity to the law” is her highest virtue. Republicans accused Sotomayor, 55, of being an activist as she is against job discrimination and gun rights. ”Her philosophy embraces and accepts the impact that background, personal experiences, gender, sympathies and prejudices — these are her words — have on judging,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, who oversaw confirmation hearings of Sotomayor.

But Democrats described Sotomayor as a moderate judge. “She’s not an activist. She follows legal precedent,” said California Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein. Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Senator Patrick Leahy, who approved the judge’s historic nomination in a 13-6 vote, even praised Sotomayor’s life experience. ”No one has pointed to decisions that evidence bias,” Leahy said. “She is a restrained and fair and impartial judge who applies the law to the facts in deciding cases.”