Health bill heading back to HouseMarch 25, 2010
Senate Republicans succeeded early Thursday in forcing a change in a measure altering President Barack Obama's newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval.
It was initially unclear how much of a problem this posed for Democrats hoping to rush the bill to Obama and avoid further congressional votes on what has been a politically painful ordeal for the party. Obama signed the main legislation, making sweeping changes in the country's health care system, into law on Tuesday after more than a year of battling with Republicans and struggling to round up sufficient Democratic support.
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said Republicans consulting with the Senate parliamentarian had found "two minor provisions" that violate Congress' budget rules. The provisions deal with Pell grants for low-income students.
Manley said those two provisions will be removed from the bill, and he expected the Senate to approve the measure and send it to the House. Manley said Senate leaders, after conversations with top House Democrats, expect the House to approve the revised measure.
Both chambers are hoping to begin a spring recess by this weekend.
NBC News reported that the Democratic leaders said the measures would not alter the policy or cost of the bill.
"We are confident the House will quickly pass the bill with these minor changes," said Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for Tom Harkin, Democratic chairman of the Senate Health Committee.
Nine hours of voting
The development came as the Senate completed nine hours of uninterrupted voting on 29 GOP amendments to the legislation.
The Republican amendments were meant to force Democrats to cast difficult political votes before November's congressional elections, but Democrats methodically rejected them in an around-the-clock voting spree that started on Wednesday and stretched until almost 3 a.m. Thursday.
The legislation would change the new health care law by making drug benefits for Medicare recipients more generous by gradually closing a gap in coverage, increasing tax subsidies to help low-income people afford health care, and boosting federal Medicaid payments to states.
It kills part of the new statute uniquely giving Nebraska extra Medicaid funds - designed to lure support from that state's Sen. Ben Nelson - that had become a glaring embarrassment to Democrats. It also eases a new tax on expensive health coverage bitterly opposed by unions and many House Democrats, while delaying and increasing a new levy on drug makers.
The legislation also halts federally subsidized student loans issued by private banks, substituting a new system of loans made directly by the government.
On Wednesday, Obama pledged the administration would not allow federal funds to pay for elective abortions covered by private insurance, keeping a promise made to ensure passage of his health care legislation.
Unlike Tuesday, when a beaming Obama signed the health care law in a nationally televised ceremony, the White House refused to permit coverage of the event. It occurred in the presence of a small group of anti-abortion Democratic lawmakers who had extracted the commitment over the weekend. The president supports abortion rights.
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