Supporters of health care reform can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Late last night, by a 60-40 roll call, the Senate voted to end debate on the manager's amendment to the Democratic health care bill, the first of three cloture votes required to pass the historic piece of legislation.

On Friday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brokered a deal on abortion language with the last remaining Democratic hold-out, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. The compromise would allows states to prohibit abortion coverage in health plans offered through the health insurance exchange, but the federal government would not impose the rules. If a state doesn't opt-out, plans in the exchange can offer abortion coverage so long as those procedures are paid for with private premiums. It's a rotten deal, but most agree it's far less restrictive than the Stupak amendment in the House bill. And it gets the Democrats the 60 votes they need.

With Nelson's support, Reid will call two more procedural votes -- one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday -- which could set up a final vote late on Thursday night, the day before Christmas.

Democratic Majority Whip Dick Durbin expressed frustration yesterday that various provisions important to progressives were ultimately stripped from the package. And plenty of progressive activists aren't happy at all with the end product, which aside from the awful abortion amendment does not include a public option but does include an individual mandate. Finding enough lawmakers to champion some of the certainly made the robust reforms favored by the left was difficult, especially considering the pervasive "revolving door" between Capitol Hill staffers and lobbying jobs for principle health care interests, as illustrated in this joint analysis by the Medill News Service, the Tribune, and the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Illinois' senior senator also showed his excitement that a sweeping bill was so close to passage. "I wish this bill were different," he said from the Senate floor. "But my disappointment . . . shouldn't lead me to conclude that this bill is wanting or this bill is bad. Just the opposite is true. . . . We have to look at the positive side of what this legislation will do." He echoed that point as a guest on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, highlighting the huge increases in access along with the bill's ability to reduce the federal deficit. Watch it the entire clip here.

There is still a lot of work to be done. Aside from the various procedural hurdles in the Senate, there are significant differences that have to be ironed out between the Senate and House versions. Wonk Room's Igor Volsky has a nice chart outlining those discrepancies, which include how the bill is financed, how employers are punished for not offering coverage, and whether or not a public option will be offered on the exchanges. Given the leverage provided by the filibuster to "moderate" Democrats in the upper chamber, it's probably unwise to expect the House will be able to extract too many concessions from Reid and company. But the negotiations will be tense nonetheless.

Interestingly enough, the new language allowing states the option of restricting access to abortion could bring reproductive rights to the forefront of the gubernatorial campaign next year. The GOP candidates were chomping at the bit to opt-out of the public option when that was still on the table. Safe and affordable abortion access can't be far behind.