Health Care Fix-It Bill Headed for Revote
Polish fans clash with police during the Euro 2012 soccer championship group a match between Poland and Russia in downtown Warsaw, Poland , Tuesday, June 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) / Czarek Sokolowski
Updated 12:15 p.m. EDT
Senate Republicans learned early Thursday that they will be able to kill language in a measure altering President Barack Obama's newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval.
However, deleting those provisions, which deal with Pell grants for low-income students, should only cause a minor delay for Democrats. The Senate could complete its work on the bill as early as mid-afternoon on Thursday, allowing the House to vote on the measure this evening.
"Of all the things they could have sent back, this is probably the most benign, easily fixed," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday with respect to the changes to the bill.
The president, who signed the landmark legislation into law on Tuesday, was flying to Iowa later in the day for the first of many appearances he will make around the country before the fall congressional elections to sell his health care revamp.
Mr. Obama was appearing in Iowa City, where as a presidential candidate in 2007 he touted his ideas for health coverage for all. His trip comes with polls showing people are divided over the new health law, and Democratic lawmakers from competitive districts hoping he can convince more voters by November that it was the right move.
Complete Coverage: Health Care Reform
As an exhausted Senate labored past 2 a.m. on a stack of GOP amendments. Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, told reporters that Republicans consulting with the chamber's parliamentarian had found "two minor provisions" that violate Congress' budget rules.
A CBS News poll released Wednesday found that nearly two in three Americans said they wanted Republicans to continue challenging parts of the health care reform bill.
Republicans have been hunting for such violations in hopes of bringing down the legislation. Democrats had also been consulting with the parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, and hoped they had written a measure that would not be vulnerable to such problems.
The two provisions are expected to be formally removed from the bill on Thursday. Manley said he expected the Senate to approve the measure without them and send it to the House. He said Senate leaders, after conversations with top House Democrats, expect the House to approve the revised measure.
The Senate scheduled passage of the health bill for Thursday afternoon. Both chambers are hoping to begin a spring recess by this weekend.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that more than 10 members of Congress have received threats in the wake of the health reform vote, and the FBI and police are investigating. The chief of the Capitol Police, the Sergeant at Arms and a representative from the FBI met with members Wednesday to encourage them to report all threats.
Republican House leader John Boehner put out a statement denouncing violent threats, but Democrats say more needs to be done to defuse the anger, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.
Besides reshaping parts of the landmark health overhaul, the legislation transforms the federal student loan program - in which private banks distribute the money - into one in which the government issues the loans directly. That produces some federal savings, which the bill uses in part to increase Pell grants to needy students.
Democratic aides said the problematic provisions deal with protecting students from future cuts in their grants if Congress does not provide enough money for them. They violate budget rules because they do not produce savings, one aide said.
The development came as the Senate completed nine hours of uninterrupted voting on 29 GOP amendments to the legislation. Majority Democrats defeated every amendment.
The legislation would change the new health care law by making drug benefits for Medicare recipients more generous by gradually closing a gap in coverage, increasing tax subsidies to help low-income people afford health care, and boosting federal Medicaid payments to states.
It kills part of the new statute uniquely giving Nebraska extra Medicaid funds - designed to lure support from that state's Sen. Ben Nelson - that had become a glaring embarrassment to Democrats. It also eases a new tax on expensive health coverage bitterly opposed by unions and many House Democrats, while delaying and increasing a new levy on drug makers.
More Coverage on Health Care Reform
Violent Threats Leveled at House Members
Poll: Small Bump in Health Care Believers
Health Care Bill Myths Likely to Linger
Gap in Health Care Coverage for Sick Kids
GOP Amendments Aim to Box-In Senate Dems
GOP Amendment: No Viagra for Sex Offenders
"Baby Killer" Yeller Responds to Bart Stupak
Ted Kennedy Remembered on Day of Health Care Bill Signing
13 AGs Sue Government over Health Overhaul
Who'll Pay For Health Care Reform?
Senate Showdown over Health Care Reconciliation Begins
Biden Swears at Bill Signing: Just Biden Being Biden?
As they began pushing the bill to passage on Wednesday afternoon, Democrats ran into a mountain of GOP amendments designed to slow passage of the legislation. Outnumbered and all but assured of defeat, Republicans forced votes on amendments aimed at reshaping the measure - or at least forcing Democrats to take votes that could be used against them in TV ads in the fall campaigns.
"There's no attempt to improve the bill. There's an attempt to destroy this bill," said an exasperated Reid, D-Nev.
"The majority leader may not think we're serious about changing the bill, but we'd like to change the bill, and with a little help from our friends on the other side we could improve the bill significantly," answered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Senators voted on 29 consecutive GOP amendments between 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and 2:30 a.m. Thursday, when they recessed.
By 57-42, Democrats rejected an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., barring federal purchases of Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. Coburn said it would save millions, while Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., called it "a crass political stunt."
Democrats also deflected GOP amendments rolling back the health law's Medicare cuts; killing extra Medicaid funds for Tennessee and other state-specific spending; barring tax increases for families earning under $250,000; and requiring the president and other administration officials to purchase health care from exchanges the statute creates.
The landmark legislation that Mr. Obama signed Tuesday would provide health care to 32 million uninsured people, and make coverage more affordable to millions of others by expanding the reach of Medicaid and creating new subsidies. Insurance companies would be forbidden to refuse coverage to people with pre-existing illnesses, individuals could buy policies on newly created exchanges and parents could keep children on their family plans until their 26th birthdays.
The $938 billion, 10-year price tag would be financed largely by culling savings from Medicare and imposing new taxes on higher income people and the insurance, pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
CBS/ AP Senate Republicans learned early Thursday that they will be able to kill language in a measure altering President Barack Obama's newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval.
However, deleting those provisions, which deal with Pell grants for low-income students, should only cause a minor delay for Democrats. The Senate could complete its work on the bill as early as mid-afternoon on Thursday, allowing the House to vote on the measure this evening.
"Of all the things they could have sent back, this is probably the most benign, easily fixed," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday with respect to the changes to the bill.
The president, who signed the landmark legislation into law on Tuesday, was flying to Iowa later in the day for the first of many appearances he will make around the country before the fall congressional elections to sell his health care revamp.
Mr. Obama was appearing in Iowa City, where as a presidential candidate in 2007 he touted his ideas for health coverage for all. His trip comes with polls showing people are divided over the new health law, and Democratic lawmakers from competitive districts hoping he can convince more voters by November that it was the right move.
Complete Coverage: Health Care Reform
As an exhausted Senate labored past 2 a.m. on a stack of GOP amendments. Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, told reporters that Republicans consulting with the chamber's parliamentarian had found "two minor provisions" that violate Congress' budget rules.
A CBS News poll released Wednesday found that nearly two in three Americans said they wanted Republicans to continue challenging parts of the health care reform bill.
Republicans have been hunting for such violations in hopes of bringing down the legislation. Democrats had also been consulting with the parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, and hoped they had written a measure that would not be vulnerable to such problems.
The two provisions are expected to be formally removed from the bill on Thursday. Manley said he expected the Senate to approve the measure without them and send it to the House. He said Senate leaders, after conversations with top House Democrats, expect the House to approve the revised measure.
The Senate scheduled passage of the health bill for Thursday afternoon. Both chambers are hoping to begin a spring recess by this weekend.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that more than 10 members of Congress have received threats in the wake of the health reform vote, and the FBI and police are investigating. The chief of the Capitol Police, the Sergeant at Arms and a representative from the FBI met with members Wednesday to encourage them to report all threats.
Republican House leader John Boehner put out a statement denouncing violent threats, but Democrats say more needs to be done to defuse the anger, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.
Besides reshaping parts of the landmark health overhaul, the legislation transforms the federal student loan program - in which private banks distribute the money - into one in which the government issues the loans directly. That produces some federal savings, which the bill uses in part to increase Pell grants to needy students.
Democratic aides said the problematic provisions deal with protecting students from future cuts in their grants if Congress does not provide enough money for them. They violate budget rules because they do not produce savings, one aide said.
The development came as the Senate completed nine hours of uninterrupted voting on 29 GOP amendments to the legislation. Majority Democrats defeated every amendment.
The legislation would change the new health care law by making drug benefits for Medicare recipients more generous by gradually closing a gap in coverage, increasing tax subsidies to help low-income people afford health care, and boosting federal Medicaid payments to states.
It kills part of the new statute uniquely giving Nebraska extra Medicaid funds - designed to lure support from that state's Sen. Ben Nelson - that had become a glaring embarrassment to Democrats. It also eases a new tax on expensive health coverage bitterly opposed by unions and many House Democrats, while delaying and increasing a new levy on drug makers.
More Coverage on Health Care Reform
Violent Threats Leveled at House Members
Poll: Small Bump in Health Care Believers
Health Care Bill Myths Likely to Linger
Gap in Health Care Coverage for Sick Kids
GOP Amendments Aim to Box-In Senate Dems
GOP Amendment: No Viagra for Sex Offenders
"Baby Killer" Yeller Responds to Bart Stupak
Ted Kennedy Remembered on Day of Health Care Bill Signing
13 AGs Sue Government over Health Overhaul
Who'll Pay For Health Care Reform?
Senate Showdown over Health Care Reconciliation Begins
Biden Swears at Bill Signing: Just Biden Being Biden?
As they began pushing the bill to passage on Wednesday afternoon, Democrats ran into a mountain of GOP amendments designed to slow passage of the legislation. Outnumbered and all but assured of defeat, Republicans forced votes on amendments aimed at reshaping the measure - or at least forcing Democrats to take votes that could be used against them in TV ads in the fall campaigns.
"There's no attempt to improve the bill. There's an attempt to destroy this bill," said an exasperated Reid, D-Nev.
"The majority leader may not think we're serious about changing the bill, but we'd like to change the bill, and with a little help from our friends on the other side we could improve the bill significantly," answered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Senators voted on 29 consecutive GOP amendments between 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and 2:30 a.m. Thursday, when they recessed.
By 57-42, Democrats rejected an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., barring federal purchases of Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. Coburn said it would save millions, while Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., called it "a crass political stunt."
Democrats also deflected GOP amendments rolling back the health law's Medicare cuts; killing extra Medicaid funds for Tennessee and other state-specific spending; barring tax increases for families earning under $250,000; and requiring the president and other administration officials to purchase health care from exchanges the statute creates.
The landmark legislation that Mr. Obama signed Tuesday would provide health care to 32 million uninsured people, and make coverage more affordable to millions of others by expanding the reach of Medicaid and creating new subsidies. Insurance companies would be forbidden to refuse coverage to people with pre-existing illnesses, individuals could buy policies on newly created exchanges and parents could keep children on their family plans until their 26th birthdays.
The $938 billion, 10-year price tag would be financed largely by culling savings from Medicare and imposing new taxes on higher income people and the insurance, pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
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Remember how Obama said all children with a pre-existing condition will get insurance NOW? Well, they forgot to add that language to the bill. Most will be covered in 2014 just like the adults. Google it if you do not believe me. http://*******.com/KidsNotCovered
What idiots we have in Congress. Now THEY control our health care.
I guess Pelosi was right when she said we wouldn't know what was in it until it was passed. Too bad she meant congress wouldn't know was in it either. Maybe that would have caught that little mistake.
2. Obama is the top receiver if Health Care industry money to the tune of $20 MILLION. 6 out of the top 10 paid by the HC Industry are Dems.
http://www.opensecrets.org/capital_eye/health.phphttp://www.opensecrets.org/capital_eye/health.php
3. Remember how Obama said all children with a pre-existing condition will get insurance NOW? Well, they forgot to add that language to the bill. Most will be covered in 2014 just like the adults. Google it if you do not believe me. http://*******.com/KidsNotCovered
I don't care what party writes a GOOD HC bill. This one is not it.
THEN fighting tooth and nail to prevent 30+ million American citizens from affording basic healthcare and prevent the termination of the most egregious health insurance practices. they say one thing, then do another and flip-flop at will for political purpose. they did nothing for decades and will do nothing if put back in power.
when will americans wake to the hypocrisy and utter joke of a party that is the gop?
Out of the top 10 receivers of Health Care industry money 6 were democrats with Obama being the #1 receiver.
Total Money from health care industry: $20,876,714 From Health Insurance: $1,616,883 From Pharma: $2,172,356 From Health Pros: $12,112,254 From Hospitals: $2,878,762 From nursing Homes: $239,090
http://www.opensecrets.org/capital_eye/health.phpa
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR (AP) ? 2 days ago
WASHINGTON ? Hours after President Barack Obama signed historic health care legislation, a potential problem emerged. Administration officials are now scrambling to fix a gap in highly touted benefits for children.
Obama made better coverage for children a centerpiece of his health care remake, but it turns out the letter of the law provided a less-than-complete guarantee that kids with health problems would not be shut out of coverage.
Under the new law, insurance companies still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem, said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the main congressional panels that wrote the bill Obama signed into law Tuesday.
However, if a child is accepted for coverage, or is already covered, the insurer cannot exclude payment for treating a particular illness, as sometimes happens now. For example, if a child has asthma, the insurance company cannot write a policy that excludes that condition from coverage. The new safeguard will be in place later this year.
Full protection for children would not come until 2014, said Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, another panel that authored the legislation. That's the same year when insurance companies could no longer deny coverage to any person on account of health problems.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jYnajhWrPEXihcCrpRNfUKN7rN-AD9EKTKIG0
Some of you people support this obsurd bill. Why do you want to make the majority of America eat crap? We don't want it! Go to Canada (it's easy) or some other country that already has a sh--ty medical system. We wish to improve ours, not give up our rights to bureaucrats
_________________________________
Well we don't have go to Canada anymore, because we won...and there's absolutely nothihg you can do to change it!!!
Why wait FOUR years? If this is a NEED IT NOW what's with the four year wait?
Hell, they even forgot to add the part about covering pre-existing conditions for children to the bill. They are not covered!! They lied. They did not read the bill. Neither did the President.
What are you all going to do when the government decides to mandate other items that YOU HAVE to purchase?
Obama has yet to have a program that he was not off on his estimates. Now he has a congress with an 11% approval rating writing his bills and you all are happy about this?
What happened to HEALTH CARE NOW? Should your signs have not read "Give me Health Care in Four Years!! Go Obama!' You should have said "Go Pelosi" she's the one who did it. Not the man child. lol.
You do have to hand it to him. The most negative items that have been found in the bill so far do not take effect until AFTER Obama is out of office. Pretty smart of him.. Unless we have another man/child who does nothing but blame is predecessor.
----"I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." Ben Franklin
I hate to tell you this Deb, but it takes a bit of time to change things over. It doesn't just happen over night.
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR (AP) ? 2 days ago
WASHINGTON ? Hours after President Barack Obama signed historic health care legislation, a potential problem emerged. Administration officials are now scrambling to fix a gap in highly touted benefits for children.
Obama made better coverage for children a centerpiece of his health care remake, but it turns out the letter of the law provided a less-than-complete guarantee that kids with health problems would not be shut out of coverage.
Under the new law, insurance companies still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem, said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the main congressional panels that wrote the bill Obama signed into law Tuesday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jYnajhWrPEXihcCrpRNfUKN7rN-AD9EKTKIG0
Try watching more than the Obama cheerleader networks.
By the way, Medicaid is already set up. Get the word out via advertising the fact that someone may already qualify. A few PSA would have people running to get signed up.
This should go through the House very quickly and will finally become law.
It looks like final passage of a health care reform bill is finally going to happen.
YES WE CAN !!!!
Romney told Larry King that mandated health insurance is rooted in conservative principles:
---------
The basic framework of the health care plan was disigned by no less that Richard Nixon. Had he not been forced out of office by Watergate it would already be a reality.
Now explain this group in Washington? I can't other than to say the last real Republican was Gerald Ford.