Kennedy’s temp replacement was installed in November 2009, so between then and January (when Brown took office) they had the supermajority and the Senate passed the ACA.
It was a broken bill that was going to be cleaned up in reconciliation with a different House bill. But when Brown took office the House was forced to pass the Senate version verbatim so the final bill wouldn’t have to go back to the Senate prior to the President’s signature.
Kennedy’s temp replacement was installed in November 2009, so between then and January (when Brown took office) they had the supermajority and the Senate passed the ACA.
It was a broken bill that was going to be cleaned up in reconciliation with a different House bill. But when Brown took office the House was forced to pass the Senate version verbatim so the final bill wouldn’t have to go back to the Senate prior to the President’s signature.