By Jane Calderwood, Vice President Government and Political Affairs
As 2009 winds down, the U.S. Senate’s health care slug fest continues to heat up. And given all the grousing on both sides of the aisle, it is clear the Grinch won’t have time to steal Christmas this year as he’s too busy lurking about the Senate Chamber. The Senate’s been busy, too, so busy in fact that they are on track to tie or break the record, set at the beginning of World War I for most consecutive days in session. And they haven’t been working your average 9 to 5 work day.
Saturday at 1 a.m., in the early hours of what became the biggest December snow storm on record in D.C., the Senate took a procedural vote on the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations bill. Six hours later they came back to pass the bill as snow fell fast and furious, at times nearly obscuring the Capitol from view.
And it turned out to be a good thing that the Senate bill clerks got in a little practice last week reading aloud – three hours’ worth of Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 700 plus page single payer amendment. It served them well this weekend when they spent more than seven hours reading the entire 383 page health care amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Monday, just after 1 a.m., the Senate voted 60 to 40 to invoke cloture on the Reid amendment, which contains all the changes made/deals arranged to get 60 votes on final passage of the health care bill. This vote set the Senate on track for 90 more hours of debate and three more votes – with final passage slated for 7 p.m. Christmas Eve, unless the procedural games are halted.
Of course, Senate passage of a health care reform package doesn’t put the issue to bed. A joint House-Senate conference committee will need to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the bill. Once an agreement is reached by the conferees, it will be sent back to both chambers for a final vote. So the health care debate will continue to be the focus for Congress as we move into the early months of 2010.