When did the Senate vote for reconciliation?
Asked by
Snarp (
11272)
March 23rd, 2010
I’m confused. I kept hearing about the Republicans pulling all sorts of tactics to stop the 50 vote passage of reconciliation for the health care bill, but I never heard the Senate actually voted. I keep searching the news and Thomas.gov, but I can’t find any mention of the Senate voting, but the President just signed the bill. Has ceremony trumped function, or is this a done deal for real?
Now this will promptly turn into yet another endless debate about health care, nothing I can do to stop it but not click continue.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
12 Answers
Don’t have the answer but I wondered that too.
I wondered too. Found this in the NY Times:
“But there were no signs of a cease-fire. Senate Democrats said they would take up a budget reconciliation containing the final revisions to the health care measure shortly after Mr. Obama signs the main bill on Tuesday.
Far from sounding a conciliatory note, Senate Republicans said they would employ every procedural maneuver available to derail the reconciliation bill, or at least knock out main provisions. At the top of their list of targets are changes to a proposed tax on high-cost employer-sponsored insurance policies.”
Apparently, the reconciliation bill is a separate bill.
Here’s the article.
Ah – so it seems that in reconciliation, one house passes the bill, it is signed into law and then the other house takes it up for “reconciliation”?
So health care reform is a done deal, it’s just the House changes to the Senate bill that are still in play? What is it about making laws is like making sausage, you don’t want to know how it’s done?
@Snarp @janbb Yes. What I take away is that all the agreed upon parts are law. I don’t know if I’m right, though.
What happened was, the Senate had passed their version of the bill back before Teddy Kennedy died and the House had passed theirs. Usually then the reconciliation happens, but when Kennedy’s seat was lost to a Republican two months ago, everyone thought reform was dead unless they pulled parliamentary procedure and voted on a simple majority. But then they came up with a plan….they would create a second reconciliation bill that would address the House’s concerns on the Senate bill and the Senate’s concerns on the House’s bill, then since the Senate bill had already been passed by the Senate, they brought it to the House to vote on this past Sunday. So what was voted into law was the original Senate bill, not the reconciled bill. There is a separte reconciliation bill now that has to pass both houses and also has to be signed into law to ammend the bill that was passed and signed. Since this reconciliation fixes some of the things that opponents didn’t like, it would be foolish for them to hold out on this one, so it’s probably going to pass.
no prob…..I just listen to a lot of public radio, and that’s about all they were talking about yesterday, so I’m pretty familiar now with exactly what happened and how.
@dalepetrie This reconciliation fixes some of the things that opponents didn’t like, it would be foolish for them to hold out on this one, so it’s probably going to pass.
I think we know that logic has little to do with politics. :)
@jealoustome – I didn’t say they wouldn’t hold out, I just said they would be foolish to do so. :)
@jealoustome: Attempting to “fix” it seems like a losing proposition. Instead, there should be continued effort to oppose it wherever and however possible.
Answer this question
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.