The health care debate has now moved from the House of Representatives to the Senate.

As the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid struggles to find the 60 votes necessary to bring the bill to the floor, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson and other moderate Democrats are put in a powerful position. Politics as usual threatens to engulf major legislation.

The health bill scraped through the House by a mere five votes as 39 Democrats voted alongside Republicans. To compare, only one Republican ran across the aisle to vote for the bill.

Now the White House’s gaze has shifted to the Senate. Shortly after the House bill was passed, President Barack Obama urged senators to finish what had been started. But with only an airtight majority, Senate leaders are struggling to get the necessary votes.

More than a handful of Democratic senators are considered at risk of voting against party lines. Nelson is one of them.

Nelson is wary of the $849 billion price tag on the Senate’s bill, despite having supported the similarly priced stimulus package earlier this year. Nelson, facing perhaps the most important vote of his tenure, is keeping his options open.

Reid withheld his own version of the health legislation from the rest of the Senate for over a week after the House bill passed. Both the House of Representatives and the White House have thus far seemed bound and determined to rush a health care bill through, as though afraid their tax policies will lead to heart attacks nationwide.

At almost 2,000 pages, a bill of this much importance requires time to be scrutinized. Time that Reid, hoping to push a vote, was unwilling to sacrifice.

It is for that reason, if no other, that Nelson is right to hesitate to give his support to this health care reform. Every concerned citizen wants legislation to be properly subjected to investigation.

This rings especially true now. This bill represents more than just the health care debate. This bill represents executive and congressional arrogance.

Between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s political wars in the House and White House officials bullying congressional votes, it’s any wonder voters across the board are suspicious of such a burdening bill.

That is what makes this bill so crucial. It’s time for the American people to send a message to Congressional leaders by way of the Senate that such politics will not be tolerated, lest they forget that even Congress is a government for the people.