Senate Finance Committee delays vote on ObamaCARE until its scored by the CBO

Senators learned Monday that a committee vote on health-care reform will be pushed back to later this week, and perhaps into next week, as they await an estimate on how much the overhaul would cost and for the CBO to estimate the costs. The Senate Finance Committee wrapped up work Friday on a reform bill, but committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) promised his members that before voting they would have a “reasonable” amount of time to review the bill’s price tag, as assessed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That report, committee aides said Monday, will arrive later than expected. More from the Washington Post:

The panel’s vote is expected to be close, and passage could hinge on a handful of senators who have indicated that the CBO’s report may sway them.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) already has begun informal discussions with senators and White House officials, a spokesman said, about merging the Finance Committee’s bill with another, passed by a different Senate committee in July. Reid’s talks are intended to establish areas of broad policy agreement so that official negotiations can focus on thornier issues, Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.

Thompson teamed with former House majority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) in citing some “troublesome and unresolved” issues in the Finance Committee’s bill. The two men urged Congress nevertheless to overcome its differences and get the job done. “Failure to reach an agreement on health reform this year is not an acceptable option,” Thompson and Gephardt wrote. “It is time for action.”

Mark McClellan, like Thompson a prominent member of President George W. Bush’s administration, also urged lawmakers on Monday to seize the moment. “The health-care problems facing this country are urgent and large, and we need to do something about them,” said McClellan, a former Medicare and Medicaid administrator who is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)

October 6, 2009 · Filed Under ObamaCARE


Comments