We spoke to Sen. Amy Klobuchar after the vote last night to continue debate on the health care bill. Her comments were inserted in an AP story for the paper this morning, but I'm reposting them here since I can't find them online.

In an interview after the vote, Klobuchar said she expects there will be changes to the bill.

"Today was a historic step to begin debating," Klobuchar said. "It was a beginning, not an end."

Klobuchar added she is working on several amendments to the bill which would increase penalties for Medicare fraud and provide incentives for doctors to practice in rural areas. She said she doesn't expect these changes to be "as controversial."

She also hit back at some Republican statements that controversial new breast cancer detection guidelines from a government-appointed panel are a premonition of rationing under the Democrat health plan.

Klobuchar, who introduced a bill in the Senate geared toward early detection of breast cancer, said on Friday that she disagreed with the guidelines.

"They are really using that in a way that they shouldn't," Klobuchar said of the Republican statements, noting that the Health and Human Services Secretary has said the guidelines do not represent government policy and the bill would not require them to be put in place.

She added that she would like to see the Senate hold hearings on the issue of breast cancer detection to "really get out the other side because many of us oppose those recommendations."