House Passes Final Health Care Bill 220 to 207
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220 to 207 on Thursday night to give final approval to the reconciliation portion of the health care reform bill, sending the measure to President Obama for his signature.
The Senate passed the bill earlier Thursday 56 to 43.
Although Obama signed the main $871 billion health care reform bill into law Tuesday, the Senate still had to pass the package of "fixes" to that measure in the reconciliation bill. The changes were demanded by House Democrats in exchange for supporting the Senate version of health reform in a vote on Sunday afternoon.
Included in the reconciliation bill are billions of dollars in additional subsidies for middle-class Americans to purchase health insurance; a delay until 2018 for implementing the 40 percent excise tax on expensive insurance plans; reducing the states' share of expanding Medicaid rolls, and a major overhaul of the federal student loan program.
Now that both chambers have approved Democrats' top domestic priority, members will now head home for a two-week recess.
In the Senate, all Republicans and three Democrats -- Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and both Arkansas senators, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln -- voted against the reconciliation measure. Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson missed the vote due to illness.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accidentally voted no, caught his mistake, and then gave the clerk a thumbs up to vote yes.
Vice President Joe Biden presided over the historic decision, which came nearly 24 hours after the Senate began a marathon voting session on the reconciliation portion of health reform, dispensing with a string of Republican amendments one by one.
But the Senate parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, ruled in favor of Republicans on two objections to portions of the student loan reform section, a decision that changed the text of the reconciliation bill and thus required the House, which initially approved the measure, to vote again. The House and Senate must pass identical bills when using reconciliation, a process that requires 51 votes in the Senate as opposed to a 60-vote supermajority.
Frumin's ruling followed 10 hours of voting that began in the Senate at 5 Wednesday afternoon and dragged on until 3 Thursday morning. Democrats agreed to break from voting and reconvene at 9:45 a.m. Thursday to consider more Republican amendments.
The delays were seen as a victory for Republicans, who have made no secret of their desire to derail the bill.
Among the Republican amendments defeated Wednesday were a measure from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to prevent convicted child molesters and rapists from getting reimbursed by the government for drugs to treat erectile dysfunction; an amendment from Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) to require all members of Congress to enroll in Medicaid; a measure from Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to certify that no households earning less than $250,000 will see increased taxes as a result of health care reform; and an amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) to certify that Americans will not have to change their health insurance as a result of the bill if they do not want to.
After Coburn's amendment failed, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out press releases to the home states of Democratic senators who voted against it. "Every Democrat senator that voted a short time ago to block the Coburn amendment and allow convicted rapists and child molesters to receive taxpayer-funded Viagra can also be assured that voters in their states will hear about that," said a spokesman for the committee.
Democrats dubbed the GOP amendments "poison pills," but Republicans had carefully designed them to be as unobjectionable as possible, and even wrote some to reflect promises made by Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail. Their goal in offering the amendments was to change the reconciliation bill and force a second vote by the House.
Democrats now head home to try to sell the bill in advance of the midterm elections in November. Republicans now head home to trash it.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, said Thursday that Republicans will work for the rest of the year and in midterm elections on a strategy to "repeal and replace" the Democrats' bill now that it has passed. And, he predicted, "We will win seats in November."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/24/senate-begins-voting-on-final-health-care-bill/
The Senate passed the bill earlier Thursday 56 to 43.
Although Obama signed the main $871 billion health care reform bill into law Tuesday, the Senate still had to pass the package of "fixes" to that measure in the reconciliation bill. The changes were demanded by House Democrats in exchange for supporting the Senate version of health reform in a vote on Sunday afternoon.
Included in the reconciliation bill are billions of dollars in additional subsidies for middle-class Americans to purchase health insurance; a delay until 2018 for implementing the 40 percent excise tax on expensive insurance plans; reducing the states' share of expanding Medicaid rolls, and a major overhaul of the federal student loan program.
Now that both chambers have approved Democrats' top domestic priority, members will now head home for a two-week recess.
In the Senate, all Republicans and three Democrats -- Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and both Arkansas senators, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln -- voted against the reconciliation measure. Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson missed the vote due to illness.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accidentally voted no, caught his mistake, and then gave the clerk a thumbs up to vote yes.
Vice President Joe Biden presided over the historic decision, which came nearly 24 hours after the Senate began a marathon voting session on the reconciliation portion of health reform, dispensing with a string of Republican amendments one by one.
But the Senate parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, ruled in favor of Republicans on two objections to portions of the student loan reform section, a decision that changed the text of the reconciliation bill and thus required the House, which initially approved the measure, to vote again. The House and Senate must pass identical bills when using reconciliation, a process that requires 51 votes in the Senate as opposed to a 60-vote supermajority.
Frumin's ruling followed 10 hours of voting that began in the Senate at 5 Wednesday afternoon and dragged on until 3 Thursday morning. Democrats agreed to break from voting and reconvene at 9:45 a.m. Thursday to consider more Republican amendments.
The delays were seen as a victory for Republicans, who have made no secret of their desire to derail the bill.
Among the Republican amendments defeated Wednesday were a measure from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to prevent convicted child molesters and rapists from getting reimbursed by the government for drugs to treat erectile dysfunction; an amendment from Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) to require all members of Congress to enroll in Medicaid; a measure from Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to certify that no households earning less than $250,000 will see increased taxes as a result of health care reform; and an amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) to certify that Americans will not have to change their health insurance as a result of the bill if they do not want to.
After Coburn's amendment failed, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out press releases to the home states of Democratic senators who voted against it. "Every Democrat senator that voted a short time ago to block the Coburn amendment and allow convicted rapists and child molesters to receive taxpayer-funded Viagra can also be assured that voters in their states will hear about that," said a spokesman for the committee.
Democrats dubbed the GOP amendments "poison pills," but Republicans had carefully designed them to be as unobjectionable as possible, and even wrote some to reflect promises made by Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail. Their goal in offering the amendments was to change the reconciliation bill and force a second vote by the House.
Democrats now head home to try to sell the bill in advance of the midterm elections in November. Republicans now head home to trash it.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, said Thursday that Republicans will work for the rest of the year and in midterm elections on a strategy to "repeal and replace" the Democrats' bill now that it has passed. And, he predicted, "We will win seats in November."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/24/senate-begins-voting-on-final-health-care-bill/
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