Morning Buzz: Health bill on the Senate Floor – now what?

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/22/health.care.senate.vote/story.senate.floor.pool.jpg caption="Senators gather in the Capitol early Tuesday for a vote related to the health care overhaul bill." width=300 height=169]

Eliza Browning
AC360° Associate Producer

Although it’s looking like the health care bill is going to pass the Senate, Republicans are continuing to use all the time allotted to them to delay a vote, possibly up until the night of Christmas Eve. Even though Democrats managed to overcome a filibuster at 1 a.m. on Monday morning, there are still more procedural votes to go before the final Senate vote – these include a vote on a passage of Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Manager’s Amendment, and a vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the Reid substitute amendment. What are these amendments and could the Republicans successfully stall the process? We’ll have the raw politics tonight.

In other political news, remember Rudy Giuliani? We’re hearing reports that the former mayor of New York City – and one-time Republican presidential candidate – is expected to announce that he is not running for the U.S. Senate in 2010, or governor or any other office. Could this be the end of his ambitions as a political candidate?

We’ve also been following the international custody case in Brazil this past week. The Brazilian Supreme Court is expected to make a decision in the legal battle between David Goldman and the family of his former wife, who is now deceased. The fight is over custody of Goldman’s 9-year-old son, Sean. Last week, a lower court unanimously upheld a decision ordering that Sean be returned to his father in New Jersey, but so far Goldman still hasn’t been granted custody of his son. We’ll have the latest on the decision tonight.

Gary Tuchman is following up on a story about forfeiture laws in Texas. Texas law allows police to confiscate drug money and other personal property they think is used in the commission of a crime. If no charges are filed or the person is acquitted, the property has to be returned. But Gary reports that personal property was not returned or confiscated according to protocol. So who is benefiting? And are law enforcement officials culpable? Gary Tuchman is keeping them honest tonight.

And as surely as the ball will drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, our special program ‘All the Best, All the Worst of 2009’ will continue a great new CNN tradition; counting down to the new year by reviewing the old one with insight and even humor. Tonight we’ll preview the special with a look back at some of the biggest news stories of the year, including the landing on the Hudson River, the H1N1 flu, the protests in Iran and the same-sex marriage battles across the country. What was your most memorable story of 2009?

What are you following today? Let us know and see you at 10 p.m. ET!