An effort Wednesday by Republican senators to repeal last year’s health care overhaul failed in a party-line vote of 51-47. The Senate rejected the measure that came two weeks after House Republicans pushed a repeal resolution through the chamber that would provide more than 30 million uninsured Americans with medical coverage while requiring nearly all to be insured or pay a fine. The outcome was no surprise, since Democrats control 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, and none supported repeal.

The Senate did approve a measure eliminating a tax requirement from the health care reform bill.  The Senate voted 81-17 in favor of to remove the so-called 1099 provision requiring businesses to file tax forms listing every purchase they make over $600 - in what was initially seen as a way to make sure company vendors were reporting their actual income. But businesses - especially small business owners - complained it would mean tons of additional paperwork they'd have to send each year to the Internal Revenue Service.