The only Senator in the Democratic caucus who has expressed anything close to an intention to filibuster if the Senate health bill didn’t include language like the Stupak amendment is Ben Nelson (D-NE). And before the final bill is even released, Nelson has backed off that statement.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who last week insisted that the Senate health care bill include tight restrictions passed by the House on the use of federal money for abortion coverage, now says he would be satisfied with the less restrictive language approved by the Senate Finance Committee.

Nelson’s position is apt to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is trying to cobble together a health care bill – which is full of policy mine fields such as abortion – without losing the support of any Democrats, many of whom support abortion rights, while others, like Nelson, do not.

Bob Casey and Ben Nelson are now on the record in support of the Senate Finance Committee language – Casey actually voted in favor of something similar in the Senate HELP Committee and against more restrictive language. As Sherrod Brown said last night, there aren’t that many more pro-life Democratic Senators, and certainly none to the right of those two. The Stupak amendment will probably get a vote, but Brown predicted it wouldn’t get a majority, and given that it would most likely need 60 votes to pass, it’s probably worth looking at the other issues tying up health care reform in the Senate.

In the House, Chris Bowers has done some good work trying to determine how to hold the necessary 218 votes if the Stupak amendment language gets stripped from the final bill. That would be the major question going into conference committee.