U.S. Senate passes health care 'fixes'
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U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a revised "fixes" package to the healthcare law that President Barack Obama just signed, sending the measure to the House for another vote.
The Senate voted 56 to 43 to approve the "fixes" package, formally known as reconciliation bill, which contains changes demanded by House Democrats to the Senate bill.
The bill was revised during a marathon Senate voting from Wednesday afternoon through early Thursday, after two minor Republican objections to the "fixes" bill was sustained by Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin.
Under Congress rules, both chambers have to pass legislations containing the same text, so any changes to the "fixes" bill would force the measure to return to the House for another vote.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she was confident that Democrats would have the votes to pass the reconciliation bill again.
The House on Sunday night passed the Senate version of healthcare bill, which was later sent to Obama for his signature, and then passed the reconciliation bill in a 220 to 211 vote, with 33 Democrats defected.
House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement that if the Senate passes the reconciliation bill in a final vote Thursday afternoon, the House will take up the revised bill Thursday evening.
The reconciliation bill would add more than 60 billion dollars in cost to the overall legislation that has already become the law of the land. It will expand insurance subsidies for middle-and lower-income families, while scaling back the bill's taxes on expensive insurance plans.
