The last of three House committees considering a health overhaul approved the bill, setting up the legislation for a floor vote in September. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill 31–28. All of the committee's Republicans opposed the measure, and they were joined by five Democrats, mostly members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition who say the bill would not do enough to contain the growth of health costs.
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Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said a preliminary report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that his draft health overhaul bill would cost less than $900 billion over 10 years, cover 95 percent of Americans by 2015, and be fully offset.
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Democratic leaders plan to spend the August recess defending their health care overhaul against withering Republican attacks, despite the lack of a finished product. Democrats say the American public overwhelmingly supports an overhaul. But Republicans contend that the more voters learn, the less they like the details.
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Liberal Democratic senators are growing concerned about compromises that Finance Chairman Max Baucus is negotiating behind closed doors in an attempt to craft a bipartisan health care bill.
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Two new reports issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) renewed sparring over the health overhaul, as members of Congress returned to work and faced what could be a final week of frenzied negotiations over the legislation prior to an August recess for House members Read more »
Senate Finance Committee negotiators spent much of their time discussing ways to cut the growth in national health care spending and narrow the gap in revenues they need to cover most of the uninsured—but didn't sound close to an agreement on a health overhaul package. Read more »