Health Care Bill Voting: What is the actual procedure???

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Help me out here my fellow USMB members. I've been talking about this with a few people and none of us is totally sure of the procedures.

We passed health care out of the senate this morning so now what happens?

Next Step:

A) As I understand it the bill gets merged with the house bill in conference committe made up of members from each house. The committee is usually made up of senior members who are appointed by the presiding officers of the committee that originally dealt with the bill. The representatives from each house work to maintain their version of the bill.

B)If the Conference Committee reaches a compromise, it prepares a written conference report, which is submitted to each chamber.

C)The conference report must be approved by both the House and the Senate

The Next Step:

1) The bill then goes to the president for their signature and the bill becomes law if signed by the President or if not signed within 10 days and Congress is in session.

2) Or Congress adjourns before the 10 days and the President has not signed the bill then it does not become law ("Pocket Veto.")

3) (this won't happen but if it did) The president vetoes the bill it is sent back to Congress with a note listing his/her reasons. The chamber that originated the legislation can attempt to override the veto by a vote of two-thirds of those present. If the veto of the bill is overridden in both chambers then it becomes law.


I'm a little rusty on the procedures and would love any additional input/facts/links or anything.


Is Part C) above another house and senate vote?

 

[Yukon]

AMERICANS (Democrats) WON and the GOP Republicans LOST. Get used to it.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

AMERICANS (Democrats) WON and the GOP Republicans LOST. Get used to it.

Good Morning Troll

 

[Article 15]

Seems right to me, bro.

The final bill could still be a ways away from passing.

The final tally was 60-39 on a strict party-line vote -- not a promising sign for one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation to come out of Congress in decades.

Before the roll-call vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell conceded defeated, at least for now, but vowed that Republicans will continue fighting the bill that he said the American people do not want.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, who in a sign of the exhaustion drew laughter by initially voting the wrong way, acknowledged that the passage "isn't the end of the process, it's merely the beginning."

Indeed, the Senate vote might be the easy part.

Now, key Democratic leaders in the Senate and House -- with an assist from the White House -- must fashion a compromise that can pass both chambers again and win President Obama's signature.

That looks like a herculean task, given the differences between the two bills on make-or-break issues including abortion coverage (the House bill is much stricter), how to pay for expanding coverage (the House taxes high-income earners, while the Senate imposes fees on the most generous health plans), and whether to start a new government-run public plan (the House does, the Senate doesn't.)

The measures before Congress are not yet winning the support of the public, with united Republicans doing their best to sow those doubts.

Senate passes health care bill - Political Intelligence - A national political and campaign blog from The Boston Globe - Boston.com

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

I find I have trouble putting the procedure into words via text messages and phone calls with friends .

Reading the Globe article now.

 

[Yukon]

Health Care Score:

AMERICANs 1
Republicans 0

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Health Care Score:

AMERICANs 1
Republicans 0

You got that wrong

Americans: 1
Canadians: 0

 

[Article 15]

I find I have trouble putting the procedure into words via text messages and phone calls with friends .

Reading the Globe article now.

You mean it's a pain in the ass to discuss something like politics in 140 characters or less?

Crazy talk.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

I find I have trouble putting the procedure into words via text messages and phone calls with friends .

Reading the Globe article now.

You mean it's a pain in the ass to discuss something like politics in 140 characters or less?

Crazy talk.

Indeed...its almost ludicris to do so. KGB should really get an account .

PM incoming

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

When it comes out of the comitte combined they have to have another floor vote like the one this morning right? Or is it a different kind of vote?

 

[Old Rocks]

What come out of reconciliation of the House and Senate bills will be voted on by a straight majority vote in both houses. 51 in the senate will pass it.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

What come out of reconciliation of the House and Senate bills will be voted on by a straight majority vote in both houses. 51 in the senate will pass it.

Thanks

Why is the rule different...is it because it already got 3/5 of the vote before going into committee?

 

[toomuchtime_]

What come out of reconciliation of the House and Senate bills will be voted on by a straight majority vote in both houses. 51 in the senate will pass it.

Thanks

Why is the rule different...is it because it already got 3/5 of the vote before going into committee?

As I understand it, only budget items are subject to the simple majority rule, so the conference report, the whole bill House and Senate conferees agreed on, can be filibustered.

Conference reports are privileged. And in the Senate, a motion to proceed to a conference report is not debatable, although Senators can generally filibuster the conference report itself. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 limits debate on conference reports on budget resolutions and budget reconciliation bills to 10 hours in the Senate, so Senators cannot filibuster those conference reports. (2 U.S.C. § 636, 2 U.S.C. § 641e.)

United States congressional conference committee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

What come out of reconciliation of the House and Senate bills will be voted on by a straight majority vote in both houses. 51 in the senate will pass it.

Thanks

Why is the rule different...is it because it already got 3/5 of the vote before going into committee?

As I understand it, only budget items are subject to the simple majority rule, so the conference report, the whole bill House and Senate conferees agreed on, can be filibustered.

Conference reports are privileged. And in the Senate, a motion to proceed to a conference report is not debatable, although Senators can generally filibuster the conference report itself. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 limits debate on conference reports on budget resolutions and budget reconciliation bills to 10 hours in the Senate, so Senators cannot filibuster those conference reports. (2 U.S.C. § 636, 2 U.S.C. § 641e.)

United States congressional conference committee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So they are going to need the 60 votes again when the committe report is out, correct?

 

[toomuchtime_]

Thanks

Why is the rule different...is it because it already got 3/5 of the vote before going into committee?

As I understand it, only budget items are subject to the simple majority rule, so the conference report, the whole bill House and Senate conferees agreed on, can be filibustered.

Conference reports are privileged. And in the Senate, a motion to proceed to a conference report is not debatable, although Senators can generally filibuster the conference report itself. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 limits debate on conference reports on budget resolutions and budget reconciliation bills to 10 hours in the Senate, so Senators cannot filibuster those conference reports. (2 U.S.C. § 636, 2 U.S.C. § 641e.)

United States congressional conference committee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So they are going to need the 60 votes again when the committe report is out, correct?

Yes, the threat to try to pass parts of the bill with simple majorities as budget resolution items is all just hype.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

I know everyone here knows I hate this bill even though I want some kind of health care reform.

Toomuchtime you just made me feel better. Not that they wont get the 60 votes again but still at least they have to.

 

[American Horse]

As I understand it, only budget items are subject to the simple majority rule, so the conference report, the whole bill House and Senate conferees agreed on, can be filibustered.

United States congressional conference committee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So they are going to need the 60 votes again when the committe report is out, correct?

Yes, the threat to try to pass parts of the bill with simple majorities as budget resolution items is all just hype.

And this is why the concern about the Massachusetts Senate race between Coakley and Brown weighs so heavily on the whole process at the present moment. If Brown wins it will knock the props out from under the whole thing. Few voters in Mass are going to the polls without taking into account what their vote means in this regard, and few Senators will not stop to rethink ignoring the voters.

If Brown wins and is seated in a timely manner (and he should be - people will be watching) Obamacare (Cap and Trade) will be dead. Once it fails to pass sine die this congress they'll have to re-write it in the next congress, and when that happens it will actually become bi-partisan. THEN and only then the committee meetings and floor debates will very likely be shown on C-Span as the president promised.

This would end up being a plus for the president, possibly positioning him far more favorably for re-election. In a way, it will have been a replay of Clinton's first year health-care flub.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

They can push the confirmation of brown off long enough to get the bill passed from what i've heard and read.

 

[oreo]

They can push the confirmation of brown off long enough to get the bill passed from what i've heard and read.

Yeah they'll do that for certain. But "procedure"--I think we know what they'll do & you can bet all the political pay-off's & deals will be done behind closed doors.

We probably won't know anything until it's passed--then we will get the "suprise."