Senate Panel Is Set for Vote on Health Care Bill
The Senate Finance Committee is to meet on Tuesday for final debate and a vote on its long-gestating health care bill.
Because Democrats hold a 13-to-10 majority on the panel, there is no question that the bill is headed to the Senate floor. But many details bear watching before the vote.
The committee, which plans to convene at 10 a.m., will let senators quiz the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas W. Elmendorf, and the chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, Thomas A. Barthold, on their cost analysis of the bill.
That Q-and-A session may be wonky, but senators will try to elicit answers to help build their case, for or against the legislation, with the American public.
The economics of the bill have become even more contentious in the last 36 hours, after the insurance industry released an analysis on Sunday evening concluding that the legislation would raise many people’s insurance premiums more in coming years than they would rise if Congress did nothing at all. Democrats have angrily disputed that report, and an analysis by an M.I.T. health economist has called it deeply flawed.
For many observers, the big question about Tuesday’s vote is which way Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, will finally lean.
Ms. Snowe, the only Republican who has expressed willingness to support the bill, has not yet offered any clues on whether she will vote for or against. Even Washington’s most seasoned political bookmakers are not venturing a guess.
The broad gauge of G.O.P. thinking, though, will probably be the committee’s top Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, whose comments could provide insight into some of his party’s most serious reservations about the bill. And any remarks by Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the voice of the Republican leadership on the committee, could provide a preview of the floor fight that lies ahead.
As for the Democrats, analysts will be watching for clues that liberals are looking at a compromise on a government-run insurance plan once the bill reaches the floor. And they will be taking note, too, when Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, talks about the need to give Americans more choices. Experts and the public seem to agree with him.
The New York Times will be live-blogging the session, beginning at 10 a.m., with news updates throughout the day. The committee is expected to vote in the afternoon.
The Senate Finance Committee is to meet on Tuesday for final debate and a vote on its long-gestating health care bill.
Because Democrats hold a 13-to-10 majority on the panel, there is no question that the bill is headed to the Senate floor. But many details bear watching before the vote.
The committee, which plans to convene at 10 a.m., will let senators quiz the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas W. Elmendorf, and the chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, Thomas A. Barthold, on their cost analysis of the bill.
That Q-and-A session may be wonky, but senators will try to elicit answers to help build their case, for or against the legislation, with the American public.
The economics of the bill have become even more contentious in the last 36 hours, after the insurance industry released an analysis on Sunday evening concluding that the legislation would raise many people’s insurance premiums more in coming years than they would rise if Congress did nothing at all. Democrats have angrily disputed that report, and an analysis by an M.I.T. health economist has called it deeply flawed.
For many observers, the big question about Tuesday’s vote is which way Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, will finally lean.
Ms. Snowe, the only Republican who has expressed willingness to support the bill, has not yet offered any clues on whether she will vote for or against. Even Washington’s most seasoned political bookmakers are not venturing a guess.
The broad gauge of G.O.P. thinking, though, will probably be the committee’s top Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, whose comments could provide insight into some of his party’s most serious reservations about the bill. And any remarks by Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the voice of the Republican leadership on the committee, could provide a preview of the floor fight that lies ahead.
As for the Democrats, analysts will be watching for clues that liberals are looking at a compromise on a government-run insurance plan once the bill reaches the floor. And they will be taking note, too, when Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, talks about the need to give Americans more choices. Experts and the public seem to agree with him.
The New York Times will be live-blogging the session, beginning at 10 a.m., with news updates throughout the day. The committee is expected to vote in the afternoon.
Source: New York Times
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The Senate Finance Committee is to meet on Tuesday for final debate and a vote on its long-gestating health care bill.
