Final vote on Senate health bill set for Christmas Eve at 8 a.m.

Senate Democrats plan to hold a vote on final passage of the healthcare reform bill at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Christmas Eve.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters on Tuesday that he'd scheduled the vote for the morning of Christmas Eve, the timing of which would conceivably allow senators to travel to their home states to celebrate the holiday.

The Senate had originally been scheduled to vote on Thursday evening on final passage for the health bill, a vote which is seen as a formality since Reid locked up a 60-vote majority on the healthcare bill this past weekend when Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced that he'd support the bill.

Republicans had been considering allowing a more compact timeline of the health debate in an acknowledgment that they would likely not succeed in blocking the health bill at this stage.

Senators will also vote on Thursday morning on a temporary extension of the federal debt ceiling.