If the weekend is any guide, the Senate health reform bill is not likely to undergo much tweaking. Between Friday and Sunday, despite hours of debate on the Senate floor, the only amendments that passed were those from Democrats simply reiterating things the bill already calls for. One sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse was a “sense of the Senate” amendment to reiterate that funds collected by a new long-term care insurance program would be used only for that program. It passed 98-0. Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s amendment reiterating that Medicare Advantage plans will continue to include standard Medicare benefits as defined by law passed 97-1. And an amendment from Sen. John Kerry that passed 96-0 reiterated the Democratic position that home health benefits will not be cut by the Senate bill.

Amendments that would have altered the bill were all voted down, including proposals to scrap huge sections entirely and provisions to limit the tax deduction for insurance company executive employees and cap plaintiffs’ lawyers’ fees in malpractice cases. Nope, the real health reform action over the weekend was elsewhere – off the Senate floor and far away from the C-SPAN cameras catching the all-too-familiar debate points.