This makes 22 out of 23 reconciliation bills
which have been forced back into the House

WASHINGTON — With the Senate working through an all-night session on a package of changes to the Democrats’ sweeping health care legislation, Republicans early on Thursday morning identified parliamentary problems with at least two provisions that will require the measure to be sent back to the House for yet another vote, once the Senate adopts it.

Senate Democrats had been hoping to defeat all of the amendments proposed by Republicans and to prevail on parliamentary challenges so that they could approve the measure and send it to President Obama for his signature. But the bill must comply with complex budget reconciliation rules, and Republicans identified some flaws.

Under the reconciliation rules, provisions in the bill must directly affect government spending or revenues.

The successful parliamentary challenge did not appear to endanger the eventual adoption of the changes to the health care legislation. And Mr. Obama on Tuesday already signed the main health care bill into law.

A Senate Democratic aide said the one of the provisions in question involved changes to the Pell grant program, which is part of an education section in the reconciliation bill. The provision would prevent reductions in the amount of Pell grants for students from low-income families as a result of a decrease in money appropriated for the program by Congress.

Shortly after the discovery of the parliamentary issues, at about 2:45 a.m. Thursday, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, indicated that he would bring the late-night session to a close, and that the Senate would resume work on the bill at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday.

Democrats had already succeeded in defeating more than two dozen Republican amendments or other proposals aimed at derailing the legislation or making changes that would delay it by forcing an additional vote by the House.

Read the full article, here.

See Senate sends reconciliation back to the House over Pell grants, Daily Kos, March 24, 2010, by Magnifico, citing AP:

Spokesman Jim Manley said Republicans consulting with the Senate parliamentarian had found “two minor provisions” that violate budget rules. The two provisions, dealing with Pell grants for low-income college students, will have to be removed from the bill.

Once those provisions are deleted and the Senate passes the measure, the House will have to approve the legislation before sending it to Obama for his signature. Manley said he was confident the House would do so with no problems.

See, Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, with a Flourish, The New York Times, March 24, 2010, by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear.

See, Obama’s Remarks at the Health Care Bill Signing, The New York Times from Federal News Service, March 24, 2010, transcript.

See, How the Health Care Bill will Affect You, The New York Times, March 24, 2010, by Tara Parker-Pope.

See, Health Care Reform and “American Values”, The New York Times, September 10, 2009, by Pauline W. Chen, M.D.

See, After Health Vote, Threats on Democrats, The New York Times, March 24, 2010, by Carl Hulse.

See, House of Anger, N.Y. Times Opinionator (Editorial), March 24, 2010, by Timothy Egan.

See, Slaughter On Violence And Threats: GOP ‘Fanning The Flames With Coded Rhetoric’, Talking Points Memo, March 24, 2010, by Ben Frumin.

Hoyer: ‘Yes,’ House Dems’ Security At Risk

As debate on the reconciliation “fix” bill winds down and Senate Democrats have been unifying around a strategy of defeating all amendments (including a public option amendment, which is why we won’t see it offered) so that the bill remains intact, I’ve been wondering whether that strategy could or should change if a Republican amendment were somehow adopted despite the plan.

The adoption of any amendment anywhere along the line would make the question of whether or not the reconciliation bill would have to go back to the House moot. Any change would send the bill back to the House. So if the bill were amended at any point, it would basically be costless to attempt to send the bill back to the House with a public option attached.

But it now occurs to me that the points of order the Republicans are threatening might not be handled until the end of debate on the bill and any amendments, so it may well be the case that Democrats are able to prevail against all amendments and keep the bill intact until that point, and only after the opportunity for amendments to be offered had expired would any of the changes that points of order could force actually be made. So it could be that supporters of the public option in the Senate would feel constrained from offering it until it was too late. The “costless” opportunity to add it by amendment might arise only after amendment time had come and gone.

But if the bill does have to be amended due to Republican points of order, that just creates an opportunity for public option supporters in the House. Yes, the path of least resistance at that point would be for the House to concur in the Senate’s changes and pass the reconciliation bill without further amendment. But if the House is going to have to take another vote on the bill, it might as well extract some price for it.

That probably means that public option supporters need to be talking to the House as well, and that the House may be the front line for offering such an amendment, with the Senate only asked to concur in it if the House is the one to include it. Supporters should be thinking about that possibility, lining up sponsors and backers in the House, and letting Senators know that if that were to happen and the bill were to return to the Senate with a public option attached by the House, that’d have to be considered as having the public option “come up for a vote,” and those letters they signed would either have to be honored or repudiated on that question. If the count of Senators who’ve said they’d support the public option “if it came up” are solid, then House Members would have reason to believe the provision could survive — at least politically — in the Senate.

Read the full article, here.

Senate Reconciliation
Liveblog Mothership #2

Senate Reconciliation Liveblog Mothership #2, Daily Kos, March 24, 2010, by NDakotaDem, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Please REC THIS DIARY and not the Shuttlepod diaries. Please use this diary as #4 after Shuttle pod #3 fills up!

Thanks to Cedwyn for doing the ORIGINAL mothership diary to be found here: Senate Reconciliation Liveblog – Impotent Tears of Bitter Rage Mothership

Thank you to:
kirbybruno for Shuttlepod #1

papicek for Shuttlepod #2

FleetAdmiralJ for Shuttlepod #3 (Please see this diary for a recap of the voting of the amendments).

Shuttlepod #5 – sheba

Today we continue in the journey to go where no live blogs have gone before…cutting through the insanity of Wingnuttia B.S.

Only today, its on a much grander scale! Its the Senate!! You think Members of the House of Representative are windbags, Senators are even more so.

Please feel free to mock. Mocking is fun.

Please feel free to play Republican Talking Point Bingo. Here is a visual aid:

If you are at work, as I am (sssssssshhhhh, don’t tell my boss! [although she probably wouldn't care]), you can Watch HERE on C-Span.

Or you can play the Republican Healthcare Buzzwords Drinking Game! Drink when you hear any of the following:

    1. socialism

    2. government takeover

    3. flawed

    4. abortion

    5. unconstitutional

    6. rationing

    7. repeal

    8. rais(ing/es) taxes

    9. cut(s/ing) Medicare

    10. any variation of “kill grandma”

Feel free to add to the list!

Robert Gibbs
White House Press Briefing

March 24, 2010 – 3:32

President Barack Obama called on Congress to schedule a final up-or-down vote on health reform in the next few weeks, saying the time for talking is done and making clear that’s he’s prepared to pass reform on a party-line vote.

“Now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America’s families and businesses,” Obama said at the White House, kicking off what he promised would be a full-on campaign to pass reform.

And without saying the word “reconciliation,” Obama signaled that he’ll pass reform with Democratic votes only if necessary – all but daring the Republican to get on board or watch Congress go ahead without them, using the parliamentary tactics that would require just 51 votes in the Senate.

He laid down a timetable – which would wrap up the bill before the Easter break in Congress – and a Democratic line of attack: we’re not passing this in a backroom deal, we’ve already passed it in both the House and the Senate under the traditional rules. All that’s left now is the clean-up.

“No matter which approach you favor, I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades,” Obama said.

The White House announced that Obama would travel to Philadelphia Monday and St. Louis on Wednesday to stump for reform – his most hands-on pitch for health care since last summer, when Obama was doing events daily to make the case for his plan.

Obama signaled that part of his pro-reform push would be an attack on Washington ways, the theme he rode to the presidency.

“I know there’s a fascination, bordering on obsession, in the media and in this town about what passing health insurance reform would mean for the next election and the one after that. Well, I’ll leave others to sift through the politics. Because that’s not what this is about. That’s not why we’re here,” Obama said.

Republicans have already given Obama their answer – a resounding no – to his offer to add GOP ideas to his bill in hopes of getting their votes. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said after the speech that the president is calling on members of Congress “to ignore the wishes of the American people” and said November midterms could turn into a referendum on health care reform.

…..

For a president who Democrats grumbled didn’t do enough early on to guide them, Obama couldn’t have been more clear in the 15-minute address, giving Democrats a calendar, a campaign plan and talking points to sell reform to skeptical voters. And he pledged his own involvement as well.

Read the full article, here.

See Updated: Obama’s final march for health reform (and more good news), Daily Kos, March 3, 2009 ,by Blackwaterdog.