2010-01-05

President Obama will convene a meeting with the top four Democrats in the House and Senate later today to discuss the end-game strategy for the administration's health-care bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will be at the White House, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) will participate via phone. With several deadlines already missed, the thinking now is to finalize health reform legislation before the end of the month, making way for the president's expected pivot to a focus on the economy/job creation in his first State of the Union address.

The House of Representatives passed its version of health reform on November 7, and the Senate finally passed its health reform bill on Christmas Eve after weeks of contentious debate. The next step in the legislative process is to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills. A chart summarizing and comparing the major provisions in the House and Senate health reform bills is available.

The merging of the bills will be a delicate balance as several senators who voted for the measure - Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), in particular - made clear that any significant revisions could force them to rescind their support. The process is so fraught with potential political peril, and with the potential for significant procedural delay by Republicans, that there is talk that a formal conference committee to fuse the bill might be ignored entirely. Today's meeting is seen as the first step by the White House and congressional leaders to find common ground between the two chambers as quickly as possible. In order to begin what is expected to be a year-long focus on the economy, the legislative decks must be cleared of health-care reform as soon as possible.

back to top