Although, are the Senate bills different if both mandates and the public option are stripped out in Kennedy's committee's first draft? It seems highly unlikely that these crucial provision would be put back in for a final vote in the reconciliation process.)
Health Reform Draft Bill To Be Released Today
By Brian Beutler - June 9, 2009, 11:27AM
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/health-reform-draft-bill-to-be-released-today.phpThe Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will (officially) release a draft of its health reform legislation later this afternoon--four days after a version of it leaked on Friday.
According to Politico, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)--a senior member of that committee standing in for chairman Ted Kennedy--said the bill would be unveiled later today,
stripped for now of its most controversial provisions, including the employer mandate and the public health insurance option.We'll try to get more details for you (including an explanation for why those details will be missing) later today. Soon after the HELP bill is unveiled, the Senate Finance Committee will release its legislation, and the two will later be merged. More on the politics of that here.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/health-care-stakes-heat-up--kennedy-baucus-meet-with-obama.phpKeep in mind that Democrats have an ace up their sleeve in form of the reconciliation process. Nobody expects the Senate to sign on for a HELP-style bill, but if Republicans don't get on board with something (like, say, the Finance bill) the Democrats can pass the HELP legislation via the budget process.
Meanwhile, if Republicans in the Senate do play along, the bills can be merged into a single piece of legislation, that looks, for the most part like the Finance Committee's proposal. Then the House (where Henry Waxman's Energy and Commerce Committee takes the lead) can pass something along the lines of the Kennedy bill, and the final reform bill will be negotiated in conference committee.
That syncs with the political direction Democratic party leaders have been saying the reform process will take for some time. There's virtual unanimity among Democratic leaders on the Hill that the reconciliation process should be both a bargaining chip, and a tool of last resort, but that ideally a bill will pass through regular order. That's why it makes sense for the Senate to advance two very different bills.