Finance Committee to vote on healthcare next week - after CBO scores bill.

[jefferson_dem]

Finance Committee to vote on healthcare next week
By Jeffrey Young - 09/30/09 09:03 PM ET

The Senate Finance Committee will not vote on its healthcare reform bill until next week, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Wednesday evening.

Baucus said he discussed this timetable with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Wednesday evening. "He expects us to vote sometime next week," Baucus said.

That would give Reid a narrow time window to combine the Finance Committee's bill with healthcare legislation already approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee before beginning a floor debate the week of Oct. 13.

The Finance Committee has been meeting to mark up Baucus's bill since last Tuesday but has not worked its way through all of the pending amendments. Moreover, Baucus said he will not ask senators to vote on the final version of the bill until he has received a full cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

That CBO score presents what will be the final speed bump for a bill that the Senate Democratic leadership and President Barack Obama wanted finished months ago. Baucus explained that the CBO will need about three days to score the bill as amended. "It may take a few days before we get a final vote," he said.

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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/61061-finance-committee-to-vote-on-healthcare-next-week-

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Finance Committee bill will be the worst CBO rating

and therefore nuked. Then a surprise best CBO rating for Single Payer Health Care, deficit-neutral.

Hawkeye-X