Senate passes health reform reconciliation bill, sends it back to House

The Senate Thursday afternoon passed a health care reform reconciliation bill and sent the bill back to the House for final consideration. The bill passed 56-43.

It was not immediately clear when the House would take up the legislation, a version of which it passed Sunday, though House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Thursday morning that the House would take the bill up again Thursday evening.

Politico reports that Sens. Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor voted with Republicans in opposing the bill. "Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson was absent. The senators voted from their desks, a formality only observed during important votes" (Frates, 3/25).

The Washington Post reports that the legislation includes two changes, which were "minor violations of reconciliation rules that forced changes to a provision on student loans. House Democratic leaders, who had labored to pass the package Sunday by a narrow margin, said they did not expect the changes to be a significant problem and vowed the approve the bill in question later in the day. Democratic leaders said the provisions that were struck — from the part of the bill dealing with Pell Grants for college students — do not significantly affect the student loan program or the overall health-care bill" (Montgomery and Murray, 3/25).

The New York Times reports that with "both sides girding for a last round of parliamentary challenges, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived in the chamber to preside over the session in his role as president of the Senate. Mr. Biden served for 36 years as a senator from Delaware, making him intimately familiar with the chamber, its rules and precedents, and the main combatants on the floor. As Senator Judd Gregg formally made the procedural challenges, Mr. Biden twice replied, 'The point of order is sustained.' Then, he added, 'Both provisions are stricken.'" The struck provisions were in the student loan section of the bill.

"The vote came after Senate Democrats defeated more than 40 Republican amendments aimed at delaying or derailing the legislation, including proposals related to insurance coverage of erectile dysfunction drugs for convicted sex offenders, the legality of gay marriage in the District of Columbia, and gun rights" (Herszenhorn and Pear, 3/25).