Senate Finance Committee Approves Health Reform Bill; Lawmakers Prepare For Floor Vote

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 15 Oct 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to approve its health reform bill, becoming the fifth and final legislative committee to pass a version of health reform legislation, The Hill reports. The bill passed mostly along party lines, with the exception of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who became the first Republican in Congress to vote for any of the current health reform proposals. The three House committees of jurisdiction and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved their bills in July (Young, The Hill, 10/13).

According to the New York Times, it was unclear how Snowe would vote heading into Tuesday's hearing. Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.), President Obama and other top Democrats spent months trying to solidify support from Snowe, which could "provide at least a veneer of bipartisanship," the Times reports (Pear/Herszenhorn, New York Times, 10/14).

Snowe -- who worked with Baucus as part of the "Gang of Six" bipartisan negotiators on the Finance committee to develop the bill -- said the legislation was not ideal but that she voted for it to continue the progress on what she considers a vital issue. However, she also cautioned that her "vote today is my vote today" and that it does not guarantee she will support the final Senate bill (Edney, CongressDaily, 10/13).

Reid Begins Merging Bills

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), along with Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), who led the HELP Committee markup, will continue the task of merging the two bills (Armstrong, CQ Today, 10/13). White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Director of White House Office of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle also are expected to attend the meetings (Wayne, CQ Today, 10/13). According to Time, White House Legislative Director Phil Schiliro, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag also are expected to give input on the process (Newton-Small, Time, 10/14). No members of the GOP have been invited to contribute to merging the bills (Wayne, CQ Today, 10/13). The merged bill is expected to come to the Senate floor the week of Oct. 26, after it is scored by the Congressional Budget Office, according to a senior Democratic aide (Armstrong, CQ Today, 10/13).

Reid and the Democratic leadership will face several difficult issues when merging the two bills, including whether to include a government-run public plan option in the legislation. The HELP Committee bill features the option, while the Finance Committee bill includes not-for-profit health insurance cooperatives. Liberal Democrats want a public plan option, but Reid could risk losing support of centrist Democrats or depleting his chances of attracting moderate Republicans if he includes the provision (Wayne, CQ Today, 10/13).

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