Webb 'undecided' on health bill for now

Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) office said late Thursday that he's "undecided" on the Senate's healthcare bill.

A spokeswoman for Webb told the Washington Post said that the first-term Democratic senator is deliberating how to vote on the Senate's bill but is yet undecided.

"It is not surprising that he is being lobbied by interests on both sides of the aisle. Senator Webb has a reputation for being very deliberative and independent-minded," spokeswoman Jessica Smith said in a statement to the Post's Virginia Politics blog. "The fact that he has said he is undecided about this bill is not extraordinary."

Webb voted with all 59 of the Senate's other Democrats to begin debate on healthcare reform in late November. That vote was on proceeding with a bill containing an opt-out public option, a provision that was subsequently been removed to placate centrist Democratic senators.

Webb would be the fourth Democratic senator to be non-committal on his vote for the health bill. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Roland Burris (D-Ill.) have expressed reservations about voting for a bill without the public option or an option for Americans to buy into Medicare. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has more explicitly said that he would vote against the bill unless it addressed his concerns on federal support for abortion and other issues.