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No Floor Votes on Health Care Before September
As members of the House and Senate continued to labor over health legislation last week, it appeared that they would fail to meet the Obama Administration’s deadline of approving a measure before departing for their August recess.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reached an accord with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on his panel in time to complete markup on a final bill by Friday, July 31, when the House recessed.
Facing an Aug. 7 recess, the Senate Finance Committee continued in its attempts to reach a bipartisan deal.
However, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) emerged from a meeting of six bipartisan negotiators on health care on the night of July 30 to announce that there would be no markup of a bill during the coming week.
Baucus appeared jointly with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) before the media to dispel news reports that negotiations had broken down amid pressure from the Democratic and Republican leadership teams. He said that talks would pick up again in the week before the Senate’s adjournment.
As an active participant in the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare, NAHB, along with 100 other organizations, has been working to increase the access and affordability of health insurance for small business owners, employees and the self-employed.
As part of the coalition’s efforts, NAHB has sent multiple letters to Capitol Hill voicing strong opposition to the House Tri-Committee bill and Senate HELP bill.
NAHB members can click here to send a letter registering their opposition to the House health care bill.
For more information, e-mail Erin Tario at NAHB or contact her at 800-368-5242 x8413.
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