Next Steps?

Now that the House has passed a bill, what happens next?  First, Reid must get the Senate Finance and HELP Committees to reconcile their different models.  The work has been ongoing for several weeks.  The reconciled bill will then be presented to the Senate Floor for a vote.  This seems to be where there’s a sticking point.  As I noted, Reid is already backtracking on a vote in the near term and behind the scenes, many Senate staffers are saying January is the earliest. 

Once a bill passes the Senate, it then goes to a Joint Conference Committee where the House and Senate resolve their differences, creating a conference report .  The report then goes to the Senate first for a final vote.  Once through the Senate, it then moves to the House for a final vote.  After passing both chambers, then – and only then – will the bill moves to President Obama’s desk for signature.  Regardless of whether or not a vote occurs in the Senate before the holidays, it is increasingly unlikely that the Joint Conference could be accomplished before January, and Congress does not reconvene until the third week of January.  Depending on the differences between the House and Senate versions, the Joint Conference report could easily move into the February or even March time frame.  And don’t forget, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival starts on March 27.  Surely the discussions on Capitol Hill will have warmed sufficiently from the cool of winter by that time.

Kevin Fickenscher, MD

The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Dell Perot Systems or its affiliates.