Health Care Bill Mark Up Begins

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September 22, 2009

Health Care Bill Mark Up Begins

At last, the Senate Finance Committee begins marking up its health-care bill today. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) announced yesterday he would make some adjustments to his legislation by giving additional subsidies to low- and middle-income Americans.

The Washington Post reports lawmakers "have proposed 564 amendments to Baucus's measure, and a vote on the $774 billion plan is not expected before Friday at the earliest."

Karen Tumulty: "One of the worst kept secrets on Capitol Hill is that "mark-ups"--the formal public sessions in which legislation is ostensibly drafted--are not where any real work gets done. Where the real deals get cut, and where the favors get traded back and forth, is in private. The mark-up itself is little more than theater, a chance for everyone to give speeches and then march toward a pre-ordained conclusion."

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told Roll Call that "he can't promise passage of health care reform this year, but he believes he has helped set his Conference on a course for success."

Said Reid: "I can't guarantee. I think we stand a very good chance of being able to do it. I think that each step that goes by, we're closer."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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September 22, 2009