Comprehensive Health Care Reform
March 10, 2010 [Washington, DC] -- In a conference on healthcare reform that Lung Cancer Alliance participated in yesterday, the Chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) predicted that Congress would pass “the bills” and send them to President Obama for signature before the Easter recess, scheduled to start on March 26.
Interestingly, in his remarks, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IO) used the plural – “bills” -when mentioning healthcare reform legislation, hinting that a new procedural strategy involving more than one bill is being developed to avoid a parliamentary showdown in the Senate.
Meanwhile both parties in both chambers are awaiting revised cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office which could be released as early as Thursday.
The President is pressing for passage by March 18, but House and Senate leaders are publicly balking at the short deadline.
