Tuesday
Oct132009
Senate Finance Committee Prepares For Baucus Bill Vote
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 11:39AM
Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote on the America's Healthy Future Act, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) used his opening remarks to congratulate the committee's members on reaching this point and urge the commitee to help further the legislation.
“Now pretty much everything’s been said. Now it’s time to get the job done," said Baucus. "The scores are in, and I am proud to say that our bill passes the test."
Sen. Olympia Snow (R-Maine.), who has been viewed by Democrats as a possible Republican ally on the bill, used her opening statement to ask CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf to keep updated analyses of the bill as it proceeds to the Senate floor, stating that it is “critically important [for senators] to be vigilant.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) addressed the recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, describing it as “flawed and completely incorrect."
Baucus interrupted Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) opening remarks, stating that the Republican Senator was taking too long and asking Hatch to be courteous to other senators by adhering to the time limit. Baucus tried to limit Sen. Jon Kyl's (R-Ariz.) opening statement as well, a move that visibly frustrated Kyl.
The landmark bill was confronted with 564 amendments, of which the committee considered 135. There were in total 79 roll-call votes. The committee adopted 41 amendments in total.
Tuesday marks the 8th day the committee has met to tackle the bill, making this the longest amount of time the committee has worked on a single piece of legislation in 22 years.
As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote on the America's Healthy Future Act, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) used his opening remarks to congratulate the committee's members on reaching this point and urge the commitee to help further the legislation.
“Now pretty much everything’s been said. Now it’s time to get the job done," said Baucus. "The scores are in, and I am proud to say that our bill passes the test."
Sen. Olympia Snow (R-Maine.), who has been viewed by Democrats as a possible Republican ally on the bill, used her opening statement to ask CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf to keep updated analyses of the bill as it proceeds to the Senate floor, stating that it is “critically important [for senators] to be vigilant.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) addressed the recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, describing it as “flawed and completely incorrect."
Baucus interrupted Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) opening remarks, stating that the Republican Senator was taking too long and asking Hatch to be courteous to other senators by adhering to the time limit. Baucus tried to limit Sen. Jon Kyl's (R-Ariz.) opening statement as well, a move that visibly frustrated Kyl.
The landmark bill was confronted with 564 amendments, of which the committee considered 135. There were in total 79 roll-call votes. The committee adopted 41 amendments in total.
Tuesday marks the 8th day the committee has met to tackle the bill, making this the longest amount of time the committee has worked on a single piece of legislation in 22 years.
Reader Comments