By Kim Harvey Looney

On Wednesday afternoon, July 9, 2008, the Senate voted 69 to 30 to stave off a cut in Medicare fees to physicians.  Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D- Mass.) made a surprise appearance.  While President Bush has promised to veto the bill, Senate leaders are not worried because the bill has now passed both the House and Senate by veto-proof margins – 355-59 in the House and 69-30 in the Senate.   Without such action, physicians would have started to feel the 10.6 percent automatic cut sometime after July 15.   A number of Republicans who had previously voted against the bill ended up voting for it after they were targeted by ads from the American Medical Association, including Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.),  Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).  A total of nine Republicans switched their votes.