Legislative
Updates
 The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released on Thursday preliminary estimates of the direct spending and revenue effects of the House reconciliation proposal (H.R. 4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010) that would amend the Senate-passed health care reform bill (H.R. 3590). The CBO and JCT estimate the reconciliation proposal would cost $940 billion over 10 years and would reduce the deficit by $138 billion from 2010-2019 and by $1.2 trillion during the second decade.
The House plans to vote on the reconciliation proposal on March 21. There has been some controversy this week over one procedure that may be used to pass the Senate bill (H.R. 3590). Often referred to as the "Slaughter Rule," this procedure would allow the House to vote on the reconciliation proposal instead of the Senate bill itself. If the reconciliation proposal passes, then the Senate bill (H.R. 3590) would be deemed to have been passed by the House. House Republicans introduced a resolution this week that would have forced an up or down vote on the Senate bill separately. That resolution, however, was defeated by a vote of 222-203 on Thursday.
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