Democratic Senators Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer said Thursday evening that they plan to turn debate on the Senate Finance Committee toward a government-run public option on Friday. No public option is included in Chairman Max Baucus’s current health care reform bill and none is expected one to be added, simply because there are not [...]
The Congressional Budget Office moves too slowly for Chairman Max Baucus. When CBO Director Doug Elmendorf told the committee earlier this week that it would take his office several weeks to formally assess the cost of Baucus’s most recent version of his bill – modified over the weekend and released Tuesday – the chairman said [...]
For the most part, 13-10 vote tallies on the Senate Finance Committee’s heath reform bill this week will be strictly along party lines. There are 13 Democrats on the committee, including Chairman Max Baucus, and 10 Republicans. But a 13-10 divide this afternoon on an amendment from Democrat Bill Nelson indicated a different kind of [...]
Wrapping up around 11 p.m., Day 2 of the Senate Finance Committee Markup of its health reform bill did not offer any surprise changes to the bill. On nearly every amendment that drew out partisan division or contentious debate, Democratic Chairman Max Baucus either won the vote along strict party lines or ruled the amendments [...]
Before the lunch break in the Senate Finance Committee’s markup on health reform legislation, members engaged in a long and ultra-wonky debate on Medicare Advantage. The debate was essentially about whether more than $100 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage will lead to a reduction in benefits. At the risk of being unclear, the answer [...]
While members expected the Senate Finance Committee to begin its Wednesday markup by returning to the contentious amendment related to a White House deal with pharmaceutical companies, Democrat Bill Nelson – who had introduced that amendment – was not present. (* In my original post, I mistakenly identified the senator as Ben Nelson. The post [...]
There was one more piece of important news from Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee markup of its health reform bill. As the committee was wrapping up – and after some senators had left for the evening – things got heated over a deal the White House reached earlier this year with drug companies. The deal stipulated [...]
The first day of the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform markup started around 9 a.m. and wrapped up at 10 p.m. Most of the day was spent on opening statements from committee members. But after that was done, Chairman Max Baucus moved on to questions for Congressional Budget Director Doug Elmendorf.
It’s easy to get in the wonk weeds with health care, so here are a few quick and easy highlights from the first day of the Senate Finance Committee markup that ended around 10 p.m.
