WASHINGTON: Senators gave Barack Obama a huge political boost today by passing a sweeping remake of the US health care system that aims to extend coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans.

Vice President Joe Biden presided over the early morning Christmas Eve ballot in which 58 Democratic senators and two independents gave Obama the 60 votes he needs to pass the bill.

The legislation must now be reconciled with a separate House of Representatives version before going to Obama’s desk to be signed early next year.

Obama pledged in a television interview Wednesday that he would “absolutely” take a hands-on role in the reconciliation process in coming weeks.

“We hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I’ll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session,” he said.

The final Senate vote had been planned for late today, but leaders in the upper chamber agreed to let weary staff and lawmakers go home earlier for the holidays as ice storms headed for the Midwest.

After the vote, attention narrowed on negotiations to forge a compromise between the final Senate bill and the House version, approved on November 7. They differ on several points, and Obama allies have openly stated preferences for key chunks of the House version, setting up potentially damaging Democratic in-fighting ahead of crucial 2010 mid-term elections.

The headline battle looms over the provision of a government-backed “public option” to compete with private insurers. This measure was stripped from the Senate bill but remains in the House version.

Another bone of contention is the House bill’s tougher restrictions on federal funds subsidising abortions.