Will the House agree with the Senate bill ?

[kentuck]

There are many more progressives in the House and many wanted a public option. They were willing to accept a Medicare buy-in. But the Senate version has neither.

Can they bite the bullet and vote for the bill that came out of the Senate? I'm not so sure? Why should they defer to the Senate? Surely they can come up with something better? Perhaps do away with the anti-trust exemption? Or some type of public option? Why should everyone else pay the insurance companies to insure the 30 million new people covered? Isn't that what is happening?

[Ozymanithrax]

1. The question will be, can they agree on the conference committe report...

that combines the bills.

[kentuck]

4. I think it is safe to assume that the conference committee is more likely...

to agree with the Senate version. However, does it not have to go to the full floor for a vote? And won't that be much more difficult?

[Ozymanithrax]

7. The conference committee report must be approved by both the House and the Senate...

Either house can send the bill back to the committee if they don't like it, until one if tge houses accepts the report.

[kentuck]

9. Right!

Do you think the House will agree with it or will they send it back? Somehow, I can't see a lot of support in the House, but with the large Democratic majority, they may get enough votes to send it back to the Senate for final approval?

[Ozymanithrax]

10. I think a majority of Democrats in the House recognize that the...

Committee will give them the best bill that can be passed, and in order to provide help to 50+ million Americans who are dying at a rate of 45,000 a year because they do not have health care, they will pass it.

Health Care is not an issue of Corporotocracy or Corporatism, it is about 50+ million people who need health care. It is about the rest of us who sit one catastrophic illness from bankruptcy. I think it is tragic that this bill only covers about 30 million of those people. Some good is better than no good.

Once passed, Congressmen and Senators will look for ways to make it better.

That is the way we do things in our system, which is evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

*Corrected for spelling...

[kentuck]

15. The perfect being the enemy of the good?

I guess we will get what we settle for?

[postulater]

2. They could drop the mandate.

Since the Senate dropped the public option.

[Parker CA]

6. Yes!! Drop the mandate!!

[tritsofme]

3. The problem is counting to 60. Nelson/Lieberman have no problem

holding the bill hostage if their demands are not met.

Any substantive changes will cause them to kill it.

[CTyankee]

5. The Repubs HATE the Medicare buy in the most!

Why? Because they KNOW in their shriveled, wicked hearts that the American people will welcome it with open arms and it will be wildly popular and they'll NEVER get rid of it, just like regular Medicare!

The Senate bill is exactly what they want: if it stays in its present form it will be universally hated by just about everybody and we'll be back where we started in just a few years, maybe worse...

[BzaDem]

8. Of course they will. They aren't even THREATENING to take it down at this point.

Of course, if the progressive caucus were threatening to take it down, I wouldn't believe them for a minute (after all, they pledged not to vote for any bill without a robust public option tied to Medicare rates, right before they did vote for it without such an option tied to Medicare).

But they aren't even threatening to do it. When Anthony Weiner is saying the Senate bill is better than nothing, you know it will pass. They will make a few superficial changes to make it look like they had their say, and then it will pass.

[freddie mertz]

11. This was decided months ago.

The Senate bill IS the WH bill.

[freddie mertz]

12. This was decided months ago.

The Senate bill IS the WH bill.

[IndianaGreen]

13. Kent Conrad is quoted in article posted in DU as saying House will be forced to accept Senate versio

[TorchTheWitch]

14. they will be arm twisted to pass it whatever it looks like

The admin does not care how bad it is or how bad it gets, they only care about passing something.