After months of failing to agree on how to repeal an unpopular IRS reporting provision included in the healthcare reform act, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to strike it down Wednesday night.

The Senate voted 81-17 on the 1099-reporting requirement, with 17 Democrats voting against the measure.

The healthcare reform provision requires businesses to report for each vendor annual purchases of goods or services of more than $600. The House, which must still approve its own version of the legislation, has signaled it would move quickly to repeal the 1099 requirement.

For months, President Obama has called on lawmakers to repeal the provision, but Democrats and Republicans have clashed over how to offset the $19 billion in lost revenue. Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) each pushed separate bills last year that failed to garner enough support.

The repeal measure approved Wednesday night – an amendment raised by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) on an aviation bill – would offset the cost of repeal by authorizing the Office of Management and Budget to identify unobligated funds. The amendment was almost identical to a bill offered by Johanns, but the Stabenow measure specified funds could not be taken out of the Social Security Administration to offset the costs.

Some Democrats expressed unease with giving OMB the power to cut federal funds.

“What is convenient is not always right,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said on the Senate floor before the vote. “The Constitution places in our hands, and ours alone, the authority to appropriate funds. We cannot statutorily pass that buck and we should not.”

Levin, backed by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), offered an alternative 1099 amendment Wednesday evening that he said would eliminate tax loopholes for the oil and gas industry to fund repeal. The amendment failed 44-54, with a number of Democrats voting against.

A Democratic senator is asking his colleagues to back a resolution calling for the Supreme Court to decide quickly on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform act.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is raising the resolution after a federal judge in his home state ruled on Monday that the entire reform law is unconstitutional. Another judge struck down the law’s requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance, while two judges have upheld the individual mandate.

With those cases now headed for appellate court, Nelson wants the Supreme Court to "immediately" decide on the reform law.

“The vote to repeal healthcare is largely symbolic because the Supreme Court is going to have to be the one to decide this matter,” Nelson said.  “We ought to do the right thing and ask the high court to rule quickly so we don’t keep arguing over this for the next several years.”

In light of the separate rulings, there has been confusion about whether implementation should continue until the Supreme Court decides on the competing court challenges. Some states on the 26-state lawsuit in Florida have said they will halt implementation efforts in light of the most recent ruling.

Leading Republican lawmakers have been calling for an expedited Supreme Court hearing, but the Obama administration so far has seemed content to let the legal challenges play out through the appeals process. If the healthcare lawsuits aren’t fast-tracked, the Supreme Court likely wouldn’t decide on the reform law’s constitutionality until 2012 or later.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signaled that Republicans will continue to offer amendments to change the Democrats' healthcare law even if Wednesday's repeal vote fails as expected.   

Graham and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a doctor, introduced legislation on Tuesday that would allow states to opt out of the law's individual mandate, employee mandate and Medicaid mandate.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Graham said he "looks forward" to having the opt-out legislation considered as an amendment. 

“I look forward to casting my vote to repeal and replace,” Graham said. “If that does not work, I look forward to having my amendment, along with Sen. Barrasso, on the floor of the Senate, allowing states to opt out if they choose.”

The legislation, S. 244, The State Health Care Choice Act, is part of Republicans’ effort to "repeal and replace" the Democrats’ healthcare law.

“Instead of requiring states to follow ObamaCare’s one-size-fits-all healthcare policy, our bill lets states decide what works best for them," Barrasso said in a statement. "We will fight to repeal the president’s bad health spending law and provide states with flexibility, freedom and choice."

But Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday he has yet to see a serious attempt at “replacing” the law from Republicans.

"It used to be 'repeal and replace,' but there is no replacement,” Schumer said. 

When the Senate votes on repeal of the healthcare reform law Wednesday evening, it’s possible that some Democrats may vote with Republicans to undo President Obama's signature achievement, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Schumer said an “overwhelming majority” of Democrats will oppose repealing the reform law, but he left open the possibility that some members of his party will vote for repeal.

Democrats will bring up the vote after 5 p.m. Wednesday as a budget point of order, meaning that Republicans would need 60 votes to approve the repeal measure. With 47 Republicans in the Senate, the bill will undoubtedly fall short of the required margin for passage.

But if several Democrats do vote for repeal, it could show cracks in the party's united defense of the reform law. With almost two dozen Democratic senators up for reelection in 2012, votes on healthcare reform over the next two years could play a major role in their campaigns.

However, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.), a pair of centrist Democrats with tough reelection battles ahead, have already come out against repeal.

“I want to be clear. I continue to support the health reform law because it is the right thing to do for Nebraska,” Nelson said. “There are a lot of good parts in the bill and some that I will work to improve.”

Two days after a Florida judge struck down the entire healthcare reform law, a Senate judiciary panel debated the constitutionality of requiring individuals to purchase health insurance.

The hearing will have no immediate effect on the law’s implementation, but its timing made for compelling theater. By striking down the entire reform law on Monday, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson went one step further than a federal judge in Virginia, who in December ruled the so-called individual mandate unconstitutional but allowed the rest of the law to stand.

Citing Supreme Court rulings dating back to the 18th century and the Federalist Papers, constitutional scholars on Wednesday morning made their legal arguments for or against President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. The debate centered around whether Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to require health coverage for all individuals.

The White House and liberal groups are pushing back Wednesday morning against Senate Republicans before an expected vote on repealing the healthcare reform law in the upper chamber.

Reform law supporters find themselves in something of an unexpected position of playing defense in the Senate. The House, on a party-line vote two weeks ago, repealed the reform law, but the measure wasn’t expected to see the light of day in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) controls the action.

But on Tuesday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he and Reid reached an agreement to allow a vote on repeal as an amendment to an aviation bill. Now the White House and pro-reform Health Care for America Now (HCAN) are trying to hammer home the importance of the popular consumer protections included in the reform law.

“It’s important to remember what repealing the Affordable Care Act would mean to millions of Americans,” wrote Stephanie Cutter, deputy senior adviser to President Obama, in a blog post Wednesday morning.

McConnell told colleagues he will offer healthcare reform repeal as an amendment to legislation on the Senate floor.

A day after a federal judge struck down the entire healthcare reform law, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he would make good on his promise to force a Senate vote on outright repeal of the law. McConnell introduced the repeal measure as an amendment to an aviation bill, and the Senate is expected to take up the vote on Wednesday.

Democrats will likely use a maneuver that would force the GOP to round up an impossible 60 votes to repeal the reform law, meaning that 13 Democrats would have to vote with Republicans. When asked if his entire caucus would oppose the repeal measure, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, "We'll wait and see." But Senate Democrats say they're ready to defeat the repeal effort. 

The Senate will also vote on an amendment to strike down the reform law's unpopular IRS filing requirement. Expect that measure to have significant bipartisan support after President Obama gave his endorsement to repealing the so-called 1099 requirement.

GOP senators launch new reform law attack: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced a bill that allows states to opt out of the most important aspects of the reform law, including the individual mandate, expansion of Medicaid and employer coverage requirements. If enough states back out of the individual mandate, Graham thinks the reform law will be rendered useless and Congress would have to go back to the drawing board.

Senate Democratic leaders said they are prepared to defeat an amendment repealing the healthcare law that Republicans are trying to attach to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill.

 "The FAA bill is important," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters today. "We are going to do everything we can to get rid of these amendments. The first amendment of course, if Senator McConnell does offer that, and we are told he is going to, it's not going to go anyplace."

 During the press conference, Reid said Democrats plan to swiftly defeat the amendment in a floor vote and then move on.

"A point of order against it will be sustained and [healthcare repeal] won’t pass and then we will move to the FAA bill," said Reid. "We want to get this out of our system quickly."

As majority leader, Reid controls the legislative schedule for the Senate and has refused to allow a vote on a standalone bill that would repeal the healthcare legislation. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced such a bill to the Senate floor after it had passed the House.

At 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, McConnell took the Senate floor to introduce his amendment. Democrats also allowed Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) to introduce an amendment that would repeal tax-reporting language in the healthcare law, which both parties support.

Republican leadership hashed a deal out with Democratic leadership in late January that allows amendments to be added to most pieces of Senate legislation in exchange for fewer filibusters.