This is NOT the final bill folks.

[cayanne]

Now a conference committee will be formed to write a compromise bill from the one passed in the House and the one passed in the Senate. This new bill must then be approved by both chambers once again, before it's sent to the President to sign or veto. Many here need to learn how bills are made.

[Captain Hilts]

1. This is why I say I favor voting 'for' it, rather than saying I support the bill itself. A nuance

most don't 'get'.

[earthside]

20. Yeah, well here's a 'nuance' ...

... the conference bill can be filibustered.

So, after all this wrangling to get a 60 vote bill, you can be assured that the present Senate bill is pretty much going to be it.

Kill it now or kill it later, that's what it amounts to.

[treestar]

2. Won't matter

The usual crowd will be against the bill no matter what happens. And against every other single thing that comes up.

[cayanne]

11. It drives me nuts

People here would rather out "wail" and out recommend each other then to Google to learn the process of how a bill is actually made and passed or vetoed.

[Cleita]

3. Unless there is a plane crash with 55% of the conservative Senate aboard and they have

to get new ones, there will be the same old creeps bartering our money and lives away for personal gain, and that will result in no significant change.

[dkf]

4. Ben Nelson won't vote for it unless it is essentially unchanged

The senate bill is the final bill or there is nothing.

[napi21]

7. No, that's not what he said. He was pretty specific.

No material change to his abortion language.
No PO or expansion of Medicare.

That leaves a lot of the bill to be negotiated.

[dkf]

5. Ben Nelson won't vote for it unless it is essentially unchanged

The senate bill is the final bill or there is nothing.

[walldude]

14. He got his concessions.. he's voting for it..

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/ben-nelson-agrees-vote-healthcare-bil

Under the new abortion provisions, states can opt out of allowing plans to cover abortion in insurance exchanges the bill would set up to serve individuals who don't have employer coverage. Plus, enrollees in plans that do cover abortion procedures would pay for the coverage with separate checks - one for abortion, one for rest of health-care services.

Nelson secured full federal funding for his state to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Other states must pay a small portion of the additional cost. He won concessions for qualifying nonprofit insurers and for Medigap providers from a new insurance tax. He also was able to roll back cuts to health savings accounts.

"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree," Nelson told reporters at the Capitol, of the many changes made at his behest. "But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions."

Asshole.

And for the OP, yes the bill is not finished. They have more gutting to do. It was made perfectly clear what the Democrats think, this bill is not for us.

[BurtWorm]

6. Do you think they're going to write a public option in and abortion ban out?

I don't.

[napi21]

9. No. They still need another cloture vote before the final bill can pass.

They lose Nelson and probably several others if they do that.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Or even ditch the mandate?

(which, imho, would at least de-fang it a little as regards predation on the poor).

[Jamastiene]

34. I might be able to look at the bill differently (with lots of real reservations still)

if they would ditch the mandate to buy it.

[W_HAMILTON]

8. Does there have to be another cloture vote after conference?

I'm guessing there is, but if not, maybe there is hope for some real change (no pun intended).

If it goes back to needing 60 votes to invoke cloture, well, I guess we'll still end up with a piece of crap.

[napi21]

12. Yes there's another cloture vote. n/t

[W_HAMILTON]

25. Oh, God.

How can this even be allowed? Aren't the two houses of Congress supposed to be equal in power? Because of the cloture rule, you are basically allowing one Senate vote to count more than all of the votes in the House. It is ridiculous and needs to be changed. I know people said that the Republicans would run wild if this were to happen, but if they did, the people would marginalize their party even more. It would be better for the country.

[napi21]

36. Remember, Nelson said if anything materially changed his abortion wording or put in a PO,

or expanded medicare, he wouldn't vote for it.

This kind of sh*t goes on all the time, it's just that we rarely see it. I guess we're all getting a civics lesson this time!

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. Yes many here need to learn how bills are made...

When it gets to this point whoever can potentially apply the most hurt gets their concerns addressed. I see NO point in calming down. Under your scenario someone has to blink first in Conference Committee where changes get considered, and then in both houses when a bill emerges. I think whatever side is most convincing that they have the means and motivation to kill this bill if it doesn't come out to their liking has the upper hand.

[cayanne]

16. This is the Constitution's scenario not mine.

There will be more under the table deals made. I don't think we know where the power really lies yet. Now I start paying real attention as to what will be in the final bill.

[enlightenment]

22. Technically - since you're all about people knowing how bills

are made into laws - it's not a "Constitutional scenario". The Constitution doesn't address the details of reconciliation, just the broad outline of the process (Article 1, Section 7). Those details are laid out in the rules that the Congress writes for itself. Now that provision is laid out in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2).

But I'm sure you knew that, since you're all about people knowing how it's done . . .

[cayanne]

24. Frankly enlightenment

Then if it's not the Constitution's scenario, and I know it's not mine, then I guess it up for grabs as to who this scenario really belongs to. I just know how bills are made and that this will now be going to a conference committee to make the final bill to be voted on by both the House and the Senate. I confirmed it with Google before I posted it. You're the one calling it my scenario, of which it wasn't. Frankly enlightenment, I really don't have that much power.

[enlightenment]

27. Nice side pass. Do you play sport?

It doesn't change the fact that you made a technical error while telling others that they should know how bills are made. Rephrasing it after the fact doesn't change the fact.

[cayanne]

28. Sports?

No, I can hardly walk. I've been disabled for many years.

[cayanne]

38. This is where I got that it is Constitutional Scenario

U.S. Constitution Online

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_law.html

[jwirr]

15. Any idea who will be on the conference committee? That is the key. nt

[still_one]

30. The right people to get the bill passed will be in the conference committee /nt

[stopbush]

17. I'll predict that the conference version will get a couple of R votes in the Senate.

They will come from Rs who realize that their party's strategy is going to kill them in 2010. They thought they could stop the bill in the Senate by all voting against it, and it has failed miserably. The smart ones will want to get on the right side of history because they'll realize that they are on a losing team that has an all-or-nothing losing strategy.

I see 62-64 votes for the conference version in the Senate. It will pass the House with a wide majority. AND, the conference version will improve on the Senate version.

[louis c]

18. Can the conference bill be filibustered?

that's the most important question

[still_one]

31. only after it gets out of conference, and it won't be. They have the votes /nt

[villager]

19. Many here need to learn what deals were cut to get this through the Senate

There won't be a helluva lot of changes in the "limited" conference guaranteed by Reid...

[villager]

21. Dupe

glitchiness, et al...

[xchrom]

23. I think you owe du an apology.

Reading the thread makes it pretty clear -- people know the process.

[cayanne]

26. Some do

and reading du daily for as long as I have, I believe many do not know. And no, I do not feel I owe du an apology as I said nothing bad or derogatory about du.

[still_one]

29. Yes it is the final bill. No, it doesn't need to get approved by a full vote by both houses

Senate Debate. Once the committee releases the bill, it goes to the Senate floor. Bills are debated in the order they come from the committee. The Senate can debate a bill indefinitely. Once the debate is over, the bill is voted on. A simple majority passes it.

Conference Committee. The bill now moves to yet another committee! The Conference Committee is made up of members from each House. This group works out any differences between versions of the bill. The revised bill is sent back to both houses for their final approval. At this phase, the combined bill will often receive a new number. The bill is then printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office in a process called enrolling. The clerk from the House that introduced the bill certifies the final version.

Signing or Veto. Now known as an enrolled bill, it is signed by the Speaker of the House, and the Vice President, who is also the leader of the senate. Then it is sent to the President, who has 10 days to sign it or veto it. If the President vetoes a bill, it can still become a law if two-thirds of each house vote in favor of it.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

32. You are wrong, and arrogant about it

[cayanne]

39. How am I wrong?

Perhaps arragant in your opinion but tell me how I'm wrong? Look at the posts throughout the Senate debate, or even in the past day and see how many did not know that a Senate bill will be only sent right on to the President if it contains the mirrors the House version. I can't read every post because I can't be here 24/7 so I never saw a post stating that the bill will have to Conference Committee and we will have to go through some of this again.

[Jamastiene]

33. Thank you for your PSA

Yes, they are going to polish this turd some more. I know that.

[Thickasabrick]

35. Don't kid yourself - this is the BEST it will be. It will only get worse

from here.

[cayanne]

37. Conference Committee

Conference

Once a bill leaves the House and the Senate, it must be checked. If anything in the two versions of the bill differ, in any way (even in something as minor as punctuation), the bill must be reconciled. The house in which the bill originated is given a copy of the bill with its differences. For example, if the House originated a bill, then sent it along to the Senate for consideration, and the Senate made changes, the bill is sent back to the House. If the changes are minor, they might be accepted by the originating house with no debate. If changes are of a more substantial nature, however, a conference is called for.

In a conference, a number of Representative and a number of Senators meet to work out the differences in the two versions of the bill. The people in the conference committee are known as managers. The number of managers from each house of Congress is of little concern, because the managers from each house vote separately. So, for example, a conference committee might have ten Representatives and seven Senators. Managers are not allowed to substantially change the bill. They may add an amendment from one bill into the other, or take out an amendment added but not in the other. But they cannot add new amendments to both versions of the bill. When there is disagreement, new text, which might be a compromise between two versions, can be proposed. But the changes must be consistent with the bill itself.

Following negotiations, the managers make reports back to their houses, that they were able to agree on the bill, able to agree only on some parts of the bill, or were unable to agree at all on the bill. If the first case, the bill is revoted upon in both houses. If the latter two cases, the bill may go back to a new conference committee, referred back to the committees in the two houses, or it may just die because the differences are too vast to bridge.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_law.html


The final Senate and House versions of a bill are often not identical. When there are differences to be resolved between the two versions, a conference committee is convened. Members of the House and Senate meet to discuss the bill and decide on a final version. This final version of the bill is called the conference report. If both houses approve the conference report, the final bill is sent to the President of the United States for his signature or veto.

http://www.carney.house.gov/legislativeprocess.shtml

The conventional method is to bring both bills to an ad hoc “conference committee” made up of members of both the Senate and the House to iron out the differences into a final version that the committee can agree to. The committee bill, known as a “report,” then goes back to both the Senate and the House for a final vote. No amendments can be considered to conference reports, but senators can filibuster it and require 60 votes for it to pass.

ttp://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1397-What-Happens-After-the-Senate-Passes-Their-Health-Care-Bill-