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US healthcare changes headed back to House
Source: Agencies |
March 25, 2010, Thursday
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THE final package of changes to a landmark healthcare reform law must be approved again by the US House of Representatives after the Senate parliamentarian struck two minor provisions today.
Senate Democratic aides said the parliamentarian upheld two Republican challenges on points of order under budget reconciliation rules, requiring the House to approve the package again.
The points of order involved the revamp of the student loan program, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Under the reconciliation rules, each provision in the package must have a budgetary impact.
The decision came as the US Senate met in a middle-of-the-night session to try to finish the bill, which would put the finishing touches on the sweeping healthcare overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats had managed to fend off 30 Republican amendments designed to derail the bill before the parliamentarian's decision was announced.
The Republican amendments were meant to force Democrats to cast difficult political votes before November's congressional elections, but Democrats methodically rejected them in an around-the-clock voting spree that started on Wednesday and stretched into the early hours of Thursday.
The Senate's approval of even one of the amendments would send the entire package back to the House for what could be another difficult vote, just days after the House narrowly passed the US$940 billion overhaul to cap a yearlong political struggle.
Senate Democratic aides said the parliamentarian upheld two Republican challenges on points of order under budget reconciliation rules, requiring the House to approve the package again.
The points of order involved the revamp of the student loan program, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Under the reconciliation rules, each provision in the package must have a budgetary impact.
The decision came as the US Senate met in a middle-of-the-night session to try to finish the bill, which would put the finishing touches on the sweeping healthcare overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats had managed to fend off 30 Republican amendments designed to derail the bill before the parliamentarian's decision was announced.
The Republican amendments were meant to force Democrats to cast difficult political votes before November's congressional elections, but Democrats methodically rejected them in an around-the-clock voting spree that started on Wednesday and stretched into the early hours of Thursday.
The Senate's approval of even one of the amendments would send the entire package back to the House for what could be another difficult vote, just days after the House narrowly passed the US$940 billion overhaul to cap a yearlong political struggle.
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