Senate Passes Health Care Reform Bill
December 24, 2009

In an early morning vote today, the U.S. Senate passed a health reform bill on a party line tally of 60-39.  This moves the bill to the next step in the legislative process, where negotiators from the Senate and House will be appointed to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate- and House-passed bills.  Before the measure can be sent to the president, each chamber must pass a bill containing identical language.

The conference committee members will be appointed right after the Holiday break, as congressional leaders press to to complete action on the bill in time for the president's State of the Union address.

Short-Term SGR Relief Enacted into Law

As we reported yesterday, the Senate gave final approval to a defense spending bill that included short-term relief from the proposed 21 percent cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.  The House had passed the bill previously.

President Obama has signed the measure into law, so the proposed cut in the fee schedule has been pushed back to February 28, 2010.  Congressional leaders expect to complete work on a longer extension before that deadline.

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