And now a word from Senate Republicans...

Now that the House of Representatives has passed its version of health care change, the measure heads to the Senate, where it faces a bumpy path. Here's what Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had to say today about the bill:

"The government-run plan that narrowly passed the House Saturday was rejected by one in seven House Democrats and a majority of Americans. It should serve as a stark reminder that Americans don’t want a 2,000-page, trillion-dollar government experiment—they want commonsense reforms.

“Soon, Senate Democrats will propose their own version.  We don’t know how big it will be or how expensive, but we do know with certainty that it will mean higher premiums, higher taxes and massive cuts to Medicare to create even more government programs. That’s not reform.”

Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe was the only Republican Tuesday to vote for the health care overhaul favored by Senate Democrats in the Finance Committee, but GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell saw a silver lining.

Snowe explained that she had reservations about the bill, and would keep a close eye on its progress as it now faces revisions during negotiations over just what kind  of legislation Democrats will bring to the floor.

She called McConnell Tuesday morning, before her vote. Snowe, said McConnell, "let me know that while she continues to have serious, substantive policy reservations with this proposal, she wanted to keep the process moving."

McConnell said he understood. "I share her concerns about the direction of this bill," he said, adding the bill "will never come before the Senate. But what we do know is that the bill written behind closed doors here in the Capitol will be another thousand-page, trillion-dollar Washington takeover."

The Senate Health committee passed its version this summer, and Senate Democratic leaders and the White House will now try to merge the two measures. The full Senate will then consider the bill, possibly later this month.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote Tuesday on its plan to overhaul America's health care system, after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported the proposal would cost $829 billion over 10 years and reduce the deficit $81 billion.

The committee will meet Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., had pushed for a vote this week, but some members, notably Sen. Ollympia Snowe, R-Maine, wanted more time to review the CBO report.

The bill is expected to win committee support, since the panel has a 13-10 Democratic majority. Snowe, a moderate Republican, is the only GOP member who is seen as a possible yes vote.

The partisan bitterness was apparent Thursday, as party leaders sparred on the Senate floor.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., invoked the memory of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the Health Committee chairman who died in August.

"As  anyone who has even superficially followed this debate knows, the route to realizing Sen. Kennedy’s dream is far from smooth sailing, "Reid warned.

“There are still those who will not rest until the American people are denied the change they demanded, those who will not be happy unless the status quo is sustained.  There are still those who want to pick fights against us, even though we are interested only in fighting for hardworking families.  There are still those who consider this a zero-sum game, and will only declare victory if President Obama concedes defeat."

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky fought back.

"What most people don’t realize is that the new plans wouldn’t go into effect for another four and a half years. So what’s being sold as a 10-year cost is really a five and a half year cost. That means you can take the numbers you’re getting and nearly double them," he said.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Senate's third-ranking Republican, Thursday said he would break with party leaders and vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Even though Judge Sotomayor's political and judicial philosophy may be different from mine, especially regarding second amendment rights, I will vote to confirm her because she is well qualified by experience, temperament, character, and intellect to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court," Alexander said in a Senate floor speech.

The Senate GOP Conference Chairman becomes the sixth Republican to back the federal appellate judge, who is expected to win overwhelmingly when the Senate votes, probably late next week. Debate will begin Tuesday.

Alexander said he hoped to help set a tone for the Senate and court.

"Giving broad Senate approval to obviously well-qualified nominees helps to increase the prestige of the Supreme Court and to confirm its impartiality," he explained. "For that reason, until the last few years, Republican and Democratic Senators, after rigorous inquiries into the fitness of nominees, usually have given those well-qualified nominees an overwhelming vote of approval."

He recalled how Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, got only three negative votes, and Justice Antonin Scalia,named by President Ronald Reagan, got no negative Democratic votes. But Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first appointee to the Supreme Court, is expected to get mostly no votes from the GOP.

Nevertheless, said Alexander, "It is my hope that my vote now will not only help to confirm a well-qualified nominee but will help to return the Senate to the practice only recently lost of inquiring diligently into qualifications of a nominee and then accepting that elections have consequences, one of which is to confer upon the President of the United States the constitutional right to nominate Justices of the Supreme Court."

The Senate's top two Republicans, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Jon Kyl of Arizona, have both opposed Sotomayor. Republicans voicing support include Florida's Mel Martinez, Indiana's Richard Lugar, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham and Maine's Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

To read Sen. Alexander's floor statement: http://tinyurl.com/ljl43h

Sen. John Ensign, who just a week ago was an up and coming Republican star, Tuesday apologized to his GOP Senate colleagues for an affair with a campaign colleague.

Ensign stepped down as chairman of the Senate's Republican Policy Committee after his admission last week of an eight-month affair. He spoke to a closed-door meeting of GOP senators Tuesday for about two minutes, colleagues said.

He "apologized and indicated he was going to do his job," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Colleagues said they welcomed Ensign's remarks, and applauded his comments.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada had warm words for the Ensign family.

"I know you have a lot of questions," he told reporters, "but I'm not going to answer them," except to say, "I have known the Ensign family for many, many years."

Reid added that he was friendly with Ensign's father_"a wonderful man. He's done a great job of coming from nowhere to become a very, very wealthy man. and he's done it through hard work, ingenuity." Mike Ensign ran the Mandalay Resort Group.

As for Sen. Ensign, Reid said, "I hope he works his way through this."

Embattled Sen. John Ensign, widely seen as a possible 2012 presidential hopeful, Wednesday resigned his Senate leadership job after disclosing he had had an affair with a campaign staffer.

The Nevada Republican, who has a history of strong “family values” statements, said Tuesday the affair was “absolutely the worst thing I;ve ever done in my life.”

Ensign was chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. He had become a visible spokesman for the party views and, at 51, was regarded as an up-and-coming party star.

But Wednesday, he told Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in a phone call he would step down from his leadership post. Ensign was not available for comment.

McConnell said, “He’s accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered, and I accepted, his resignation as chairman of the Policy Committee.”

Ensign had not ruled out a 2012 White House bid. He visited Iowa, traditionally the site of the nation's first presidential caucuses, a few weeks ago.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may have a tepid relationship with fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, but he's giving GOP rising star and 2010 Senate candidate Florida Gov. Charlie Crist a thumbs up.

According to Crist’s website, McConnell gave the governor a full-throated endorsement.

"Decisions are being made every day in Washington that have a direct impact upon the lives of all Americans and we need Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate to ensure that those decisions will benefit the citizens of Florida.”

Crist, McConnell and other party luminaries are slated to attend a campaign fundraising event for the governor later this month at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s Washington headquarters.

Bunning hasn’t exactly received the royal treatment since announcing his bid for a third-term. Last month, McConnell skirted questions during a TV interview Sunday on whether he'll endorse the Hall of Fame pitcher’s bid. Bunning is widely considered the most vulnerable incumbent seeking re-election to the Senate in 2010.

"It's just not clear exactly who the players are going to be in Kentucky," McConnell told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace last month. Bunning acknowledged that during a meeting in December, McConnell told him that "I was too old and I couldn't win" a re-election battle in 2010.

The Senate voted on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in October, 1998, when she was nominated as a federal appellate judge. And eight Republicans still in the Senate voted for her.

One, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, is now a Democrat. The others were Richard Lugar of Indiana, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett of Utah.

Sotomayor was confirmed by a 67 to 29 vote; all the no votes were Republicans. Among the "no"s still serving: Alabama's Jeff Sessions, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider the nomination; and fellow committee members Charles Grassley of Iowa, and Jon Kyl of Arizona. Current Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was also opposed.

The roll call:, http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=105&session=2&vote=00295

People are warming up to Congress, but not to its leaders.

A Financial Dynamics Diageo/Hotline national survey of 800 registered voters March 26 to 29 found that 48 percent approved of the job Congressional Democrats were doing.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California was viewed favorably by only 32 percent, and unfavorably by 42 percent. Ten percent hadn't heard of her, and the rest had no opinion.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was viewed favorably by 14 percent and unfavorably by 26 percent. Some 38 percent had not heard of the veteran senator.

Republicans fared worse. Thirty percent approved of the job congressional GOP members are doing, while 57 percent disapproved. Forty-three percent disapproved of the Democrats' performance.

The poll did not survey attitudes about GOP leaders, but recent surveys have shown they are virtually anonymous to most people.

A Newsweek/Princeton Survey Research Associates poll taken March 4 and 5 found 21 percent viewed House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio favorably, while 23 percent saw Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell favorably. Unfavorable numbers were 17 percent for Boehner, 16 percent for McConnell. Forty-one percent had never heard of McConnell; 44 percent were unaware of Boehner. Some 1,203 adults were surveyed nationwide.

Read the latest poll.