Politics

Health Care Progress Report: October 13

By Stephanie Condon

October 13, 2009 / 4:16 PM EDT / CBS

President Obama has set a year-end deadline for passing comprehensive health care reform, and on a number of occasions he has said the nation is "closer than ever before" to making it happen.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

As Congress methodically -- and sometimes clumsily-- cobbles together a health care bill, CBSNews.com will track its progress for you. Below is a chart to track the six major steps Washington needs to take to accomplish health care reform. On Tuesday, after months of debate, the Senate finally cleared step one.

(CBS)

More on the progress of health care legislation in each chamber of Congress.

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

SENATE: Two committees in the Senate have jurisdiction over health care reform. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee passed its moderate bill by a vote of 14 to 9, with all Democrats and one Republican -- Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine-- supporting it. The other committee -- the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee -- passed its relatively liberal bill in July. The Senate has finally accomplished the first of six steps needed to pass health reform.

Now, Senate leadership must move onto step two and present a bill before the full Senate. It remains to be seen what components of the Finance bill and what parts of the HELP bill will be included. Even though the Finance bill does not include a government-sponsored health care plan, or "public option," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is reportedly considering including a version of the plan in his bill -- though it would most likely be a less liberal version than found in the HELP bill.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a strong proponent of the public option, said Thursday the bill brought to the Senate floor may include a public option of which states could opt-out. The plan is being "very seriously considered," he said.

If a public option is not included in the floor bill, liberal Democrats are expected to offer the plan up as an amendment.

Snowe said Tuesday she will not support any motion to proceed with health care legislation on the Senate floor until a cost estimate of the new bill is posted online.

Other Republicans are renewing their attacks against the Democrats' plans, particularly for their ongoing negotiations over the bill to bring to the floor.

"The fact is, [the Senate Finance bill] will never come before the Senate," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement Tuesday. "But what we do know is that the bill written behind closed doors here in the Capitol will be another 1,000-page, trillion-dollar Washington takeover."

(AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

HOUSE: The House of Representatives has completed step one: Three different committees with jurisdiction over health care have passed different variations of health care reform legislation. Now, it is up to House leaders to decide how to merge the three.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week the House is currently considering three different versions of a public option. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office should provide the House with a cost estimate for the plans either this week or next.