NEW YORK TIMES: …A Democratic leader said the current plan is for the Senate to provide the legislative language to the House, get a House vote, and then have the Senate take up the bill, pass it, and perhaps send it to President Obama before the end of the day.
The only concession to the movement to gut President Obama’s health care law is a mild tightening of income verification rules for people obtaining subsidized health insurance on the new insurance exchanges. Even any alteration of the law’s tax on medical devices, hated by members of both parties, was removed from the final deal.
Whether it can pass ahead of Thursday’s deadline for a possible default on government obligations will depend on those senators who have sought to link further financing of the government to defunding the health care law. Senators from both parties were leaning on Senators Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, to agree to fast-track the deal to a final vote… (more)
