As of Monday, no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost numbers for the Senate healthcare reform bill had been released. However, even without those CBO numbers (which could be released as early as today), activity behind the scenes on the Senate side appears to show that no one is complacently waiting for the Thanksgiving break to roll around, especially Democrats.
The goal is to have a bill passed by the Senate by Christmas.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated that he wants the healthcare debate to formally begin this week. However, the earliest that the Senate would be likely to vote on starting the debate would be Friday; Saturday or Sunday also could be plausible. Reid had indicated he would consider a break for Thanksgiving week, but that could change as well.
If the Democrats get the needed 60 votes to move ahead and thwart a filibuster, amendments would probably be considered at the earliest on Nov. 30—the Monday after Thanksgiving. Speaking on a radio show on Monday, Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, thought that the 60 votes were there.
Currently, the Senate has 58 Democratic senators and two independent senators, who usually vote with the Democrats. However, while it seems simple, 60 may still seem like a challenging number.
For instance, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), now the longest-serving senator, has been ill in recent months and not in attendance for many votes. Also, some senators have remained noncommittal in terms of voting for a reform bill, especially one with a public insurance option, such as Senators Blanche Lincoln (R-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
Harkin said the Democrats are anticipating that the Republicans will try to slow down the debate by requesting that the entire bill—which likely will pass the 1,000-page mark—be read on the Senate floor. This effort is being led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). The Democrats have indicated that they would tackle this with several procedural maneuvers requiring Republicans to be in attendance during the reading.
The idea is that the Democrats plan on putting in long hours, late nights, and weekends in December to complete work on the Senate bill—and get a vote by Christmas.
Senate conferees would be selected immediately to begin work on a conference report with their House counterparts after the new year, according to Harkin. The eventual goal would be to complete a final bill that can be signed by the President Obama before his State of the Union address in January.