Reconciliation Bill Passes, So Does Student Loan Bill

The NYT covers the HCR vote, as well as the vote on the Student Loan bill. This was the bill removed from the reconciliated health care bill. The bill effectively removes banks as middle men in the guaranteed federal student loan process.

Again there was unanimous Republican opposition to both bills.

Back to the House

Senate Republicans forced changes to the reconciliation bill, which means that the bill that was approved by the Senate now has to be approved by the House, due to the changes.

Apparently Republicans were able to successfully challenge education provisions tacked into the bill that had no direct impact on the budget, these were removed. That's why a new vote must take place, it's scheduled for today.

Reconciliation and Health Care

For my 2302's: One tactic that would allow a vote on health care to proceed in the Senate without the threat of a filibuster is to pass it using the reconciliation process. The reconciliation process was established as ways to pass budgets without the threat of a filibuster, but since then they have been used for any item that has a substantial impact on the budget. This is the case with the health care proposals.

There are questions about whether it is appropriate to use this process for a health care bill, but apparently, this wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

- THE BUDGET RECONCILIATION PROCESS
- Reconciliation (United States Congress) - Wikipedia, the free ...