Healthcare Bill Back to House
Breaking news this morning is that the healthcare bill will indeed need to be sent back to the House of Representatives for another vote due to some parliamentary success by the GOP. One of many stories on the subject is posted below to help fill in the details.
While this may initially be thought of as a good thing… “Ya, make the House vote again!”… Odds that any votes have changed are minimal at best. Democrats could even afford to lose a couple given the original margin of victory.
What scares me is now that the bill will have to go back to the House regardless of if any amendments actually pass in the Senate, the Senate will be free to test the public option. If they can get 50 votes for it in the Senate, the House has already proven that it has the votes to include a public option. If that’s what the Senate sends back, it’s entirely possible that this bill can be made worse yet.
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Originally posted on Politico.com
The reconciliation bill will have to go back to the House for another vote after Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin ruled early this morning that two minor provisions violated the chamber’s rules and could not be included in the final bill, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s spokesman Jim Manley.
Both provisions made technical changes to the bill’s Pell Grant regulations. All told, 16 lines of text will be removed from the 153-page bill, Manley told reporters as business on the Senate floor wrapped early Thursday morning.
A spokeswoman for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) reiterated that the changes are “minor” and won’t create problems when the altered bill goes back to the House for approval. The reconciliation bill is designed to make changes to the newly minted health care reform law.
“The parliamentarian struck two minor provisions tonight form the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, but this bill’s passage in the Senate is still a big win for the American people. These changes do not impact the reforms to the student loan programs and the important investments in education. We are confident the House will quickly pass the bill with these minor changes,” Harkin spokeswoman Kate Cyrul wrote.
The all-night session came as Republicans offered 29 amendments in a final attempt to scuttle the bill, or at least force Democrats into taking politically difficult votes that could be used against them in November. Democrats steadily rejected each amendment, arguing that any changes would send the bill back to the House for another vote, an outcome Senate Democrats worked mightily to avoid before the parliamentarian’s ruling early Thursday.
Reid finally adjourned the marathon session at about 2:45 a.m. after striking a deal with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to return at 9:45 a.m. today and hold a final vote on the bill around 2 p.m. — news that was greeted with audible sighs of relief from tired senators.
–Meredith Shiner with Frates