SENATE

1. Status as of October 27, 2009

• The Senate Finance Committee and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees have each passed health reform bills. 

• The Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is developing a single bill to bring to the Senate floor.

• This bill will blend provisions of the Senate Finance Committee bill and the Senate HELP Committee bills. It will likely include significant changes based on behind-the-scenes negotiations with Senators, including Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of SFC; Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), lead negotiator for Senate HELP Committee; and swing votes.

2. Next Steps for the Senate Bill

• Senate Majority Leader completes drafting of health reform bill.

• Congressional Budget Office scores the federal budget impact of the bill.

• Senate Majority Leader introduces health reform bill and schedules floor debate.

• During the floor debate, Senators introduce, debate, and vote on amendments. Floor debate will likely take two weeks.

• At some point, the Majority Leader will move to limit time for debate. A Cloture Motion is the only way to place a time limit on consideration of a bill on the Senate floor. With 60 votes (three-fifths vote), the Senate may limit consideration to 30 additional hours of floor time. Without Cloture, any Senator may filibuster a bill and delay a final vote indefinitely.

• If the Cloture Motion passes, the Senate will end debate at the expiration of the time and vote on the amended bill. 51 votes required for passage, with Vice President Biden voting in case of a 50-50 tie.

• If the Cloture Motion fails, Senators may negotiate changes to the bill to overcome the filibuster and secure the necessary 60 votes to close debate.

• Alternatively, Senate Democrats may attempt to pass select portions of the health reform bill through the budget reconciliation process. Budget reconciliation bills may not be filibustered.

• *Note: Should the budget reconciliation process be chosen, Sellers Dorsey will brief readers on this option in a future release.

                                                       HOUSE

1. Status as of October 27, 2009

• Health reform legislation has been passed in the three House committees with jurisdiction: Ways and Means Committee, Energy and Commerce Committee, and Education and Labor Committee.

• The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democratic Party leaders in the House are finalizing the legislative language. It will likely include significant changes based on behind-the-scenes negotiations with House members, particularly swing votes.

• The Congressional Budget Office is scoring the fiscal impact of different options.

2. Next Steps for the House Bill

• The Speaker will schedule the bill for floor debate.

• The House Rules Committee will adopt a rule governing the time for floor debate. The rule will likely limit the number and type of amendments the full House may consider. The full House will likely adopt this rule on a party-line vote.

• The full House will then debate the bill and vote on amendments. Each side will have a "floor manager," who will allocate time for speeches by their supporters.

• The House will then vote on the amended bill. A majority vote - 218 of the 435 voting members - is required.

                           HOUSE-SENATE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

• If the House and Senate successfully pass their own versions of a health reform bill, the House and Senate majority and minority leadership will appoint a Conference Committee.

• The Conference Committee will have an equal number of House and Senate members but the majority will be Democrats given Democrat majorities in both chambers.

• The House and Senate conferees will work to reconcile differences in the legislation. Their objective will be to develop a single bill. The process will include considerable behind-the-scenes negotiations between the House, Senate, and White House.

• The Conference Committee process could take days or weeks, depending on how well the negotiations proceed.

• The Congressional Budget Office will advise conferees on the fiscal impact of legislative provisions.

Consideration of Conference Committee Bill:

• If a majority of the conferees are able to agree, the Conference Committee produces a "Conference Report", with is the reconciled bill language and details on how the House and Senate health reform bills were reconciled into the new, single bill.

• The House and Senate will then vote on the Conference Report.  They must vote up or down, with no amendments. 

• If both the House and Senate adopt the Conference Report, the final bill is presented to the President for his action.

• If Congress is in session, the President has 10 days to either sign the bill into law or veto it. Otherwise, the bill becomes law without his signature. If Congress is not in session, the President has 10 days to sign the bill into law or formally veto it. If he takes no action, this is a "pocket veto" and the legislation dies.