Posts by Mike Lillis

Because the bill was held up for so long in the Senate, an end-of-the-year filing deadline will prevent anyone from accessing the final six weeks of benefits, according to state officials and sources on Capitol Hill.

The Hill reports:
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the Democrats’ chief deputy whip in the House, said that she and other pro-abortion rights lawmakers would work to strip the amendment included in the House health bill that bars federal funding from subsidizing abortions.
“I am confident that when it comes back from the conference committee that [...]

House Democratic leaders might have thought they dodged a bullet on Saturday when they agreed to appease moderate Dems with an amendment to restrict abortion coverage — a provision that allowed the bill to pass by a very slim 220 to 215 margin. One day later, however, liberal Democrats vowed to sink the bill if [...]

“This bill represents a textbook example of how not to deal with the economic challenges that our country faces,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas).

After roughly 12 hours of debate — and no absence of GOP stalling — the House late last night passed an $894 billion proposal that would forever change the way the nation’s health care system operates. The vote was 220 to 215 in the lower chamber, where only a simple majority is required to pass [...]

Senate leaders are trying to “hotline” a bill that would expedite previously passed credit card reforms to prevent companies from hiking rates and fees before the law takes hold, according to sources on Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has asked members of the Banking Committee for their consent to move the bill directly [...]

The Detroit Free Press reports:
As expected, President Barack Obama this morning signed into law a bill extending benefits for out-of-work Americans who have exhausted their unemployment checks or will do so by year’s end.
Only 45 days after the House first passed the bill.

In a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the health insurance lobby reiterated today that it won’t be supporting the $894 billion reform bill scheduled for a floor vote tomorrow, according to reports.
No shocker here. America’s Health Insurance Plans has long feared the consequences to business if Congress created a public insurance plan [...]

After months of insisting that single-payer health care receive at least a vote on the House floor, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has decided not to offer the provision at all, according to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Here’s Waxman’s statement on the decision:

How effectively will the House health care bill cover children? Turns out, it depends on where they live.