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Reports this morning from the Senate cast doubt on whether the chamber will be able to pass its version of comprehensive health care reform in the current calendar year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is still waiting for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to send him scores of his draft health care proposals, a step the caucus feels is necessary before it can begin to consider any legislation. Reports are that the score could come out as early as the end of the week.

The problem facing Democratic leadership in both the Senate and House is an increasingly unfriendly calendar. Neither chamber will be in November 11-13 in honor of Veterans’ Day and Congress will recess the last week of November for Thanksgiving. December debates will have to be scheduled around the various holidays and religious observances.

Further complicating matters in the Senate are reports that Reid does not have the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster on the legislation. When he does introduce a bill, he has pledged ample time for the Senate to review the bill before holding any votes. A Republican aide told CongressDaily AM that the rumor is Reid would put the bill out for review before Thanksgiving and begin preliminary debate, pausing for the Thanksgiving break, with the expectation of a vote before Christmas.

On the House side, the Democratic leadership is confident it is close to reaching an inter-caucus compromise on their bill’s abortion and citizenship language, which would lead to debate on the bill beginning Friday and an expected vote before Veterans Day.

Quick Hits

The rule on the health care bill will allow House Republicans to offer a substitute amendment – here is their outline… Senator Lieberman backs off his “no” vote comments from the weekend… Senate Environment and Public Works Committee could lack Republicans during its climate change debate.

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Quick Hits

Menu labeling is becoming a hot topic in the health care debate… Senator Lieberman (I-CT) is threatening a “no vote” in the Senate health care debate, a troubling development for the prospect of passage… The Washington Post reports the climate bill could face a rough road in the Senate… Net neutrality advocates express concern over the proposed FCC regulations.

Last week, forty-three House Democrats sent this letter to the House Democratic leadership asking that in the final House bill nonprofit organizations be included in any small employer subsidy.  Currently, the House bill (HR 3200) has a provision that any employer who has fewer than 25 employees whose average salary is under $40,000 that offers a credible level of health insurance coverage is eligible for a sliding scale tax credit.  However, since the credit is for income tax, all nonprofits that meet this definition of small employer would be ineligible to receive the same assistance for providing insurance that their for-profit counterparts would receive.

The two Senate health care bills do allow all small employers to receive support for providing insurance, regardless of tax status.  The Senate HELP bill provides a direct subsidy to qualifying small employers that can be given regardless of tax status.  The Senate Finance bill has a dual tract tax credit, where qualifying for-profit businesses would receive an income tax credit while qualifying nonprofits could take a withholding tax credit.

Quick Hits

The Senate bill could be unveiled this week - the Senate Majority Leader will send a few versions to the Congressional Budget Office today for scoring, and walk through the options with the caucus tomorrow… The Washington Post compares mandatory auto insurance and health insurance… The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee begins its work on the climate change bill

Today, beginning at 10 AM, the Senate Finance Committee will vote to pass its version of health care reform.  If the bill passes committee (as it is expected to do) it will be merged by the Senate Majority Leader with the Senate HELP bill for Senate floor consideration.  There are some storylines the media are following leading up to the vote, including:

-  Whether Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will vote for the bill: Senator Snowe is the only Republican on the committee who has indicated she could vote for the health care bill.  Finance Chair Baucus has been working with her to ensure some of her provisions have been included in the legislation, but Senator Snowe still has not indicated whether she will vote for it.  Politico breaks down the impact of her vote either way.

-  Will any Democrats vote against the bill: Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) does not like that the bill does not have a public option.  Senator Wyden (D-OR) wanted the insurance exchange open to more individuals, not just small businesses.  Senator Lincoln (D-AR) has expressed concern over the cost of the legislation.  The loss of more than one of these Senators with no Republican votes would defeat the bill.

-  The AHIP report: Yesterday, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released a report stating the Finance Committee bill would end up costing families $4,000 more for insurance by 2019.  You can find the report here.  The White House yesterday accused insurance groups of playing politics with the timing and content of their report.  Today’s vote could show if the new information has an impact on anyone’s vote in committee.

Quick Hits

PBS’s The News Hour holds a conversation with the White House Office of Health Reform’s Nancy DeParle and AHIP’s Karen Ignagni… Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) write a New York Times editorial on climate change legislation… The Supreme Court is considering major case that could impact campaign financing for all corporations.

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday continued to debate the list of amendments to its comprehensive health care reform legislation, but conspicuously absent from the discussion were any amendments tied to the major issues being discussed by members of Congress and the media, according to Politico.  At the beginning of yesterday’s hearing, the first amendment discussed was Senator John Kerry’s (D-MA) changes to the tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans.  However, the discussion was quickly ended when Kerry stated his intention to withdraw his amendment, stopping the debate over a major proposal to pay for health care reform.  Instead, it looks like he will reintroduce the amendment on the Senate floor.  Public option alternative amendments by Senators Carper and Snowe, which have been discussed by Senate leadership in recent days as major proposals, are also not scheduled to be debated by the committee.

The result is that the Finance Committee markup will be completed by the end of the week, allowing for the merging of the Finance and HELP Committee legislation.  Senate Majority Leader Reid yesterday told reporters he was cancelling the Columbus Day recess, setting aside that time for a floor debate on health care.  It seems likely that it is during that debate that we will see (depending on the content of the merged bill) debates on a version of the public option (or a trigger for the public option) as well as ways to pay for the Senate legislation.

Debate yesterday instead focused mostly on social issues, including abortion and immigration.  A list of all amendments and the votes can be found at the America’s Health Insurance Plans website, but some amendments of note include:

-          The Ensign/Carper amendment that would allow employers to adjust health care premiums based on the workers’ healthy or unhealthy behavior (Passed 19-3).

-          A Grassley amendment to remove the $6 billion fee on insurance companies (Failed 10-13).

-          A Nelson amendment to allow seniors to claim a tax deduction if their catastrophic insurance costs exceeds 7.5% of their income (Passed 14-9).

Quick Hits

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urges its members to oppose Wyden amendment C-1 that requires large employers to offer at least two health care plans to employees…  CBO failed to include an exemption for hospitals in the Finance bill’s Medicare cost-cutting commission, skewing the score (subscription)… The White House tax reform panel holds its first public hearing yesterday and hears from some associations… Senators Kerry and Boxer introduce the Senate climate change legislation… The Washington Post tries to define a “Cadillac” plan.

Late yesterday Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) announced that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had rescored his committee’s health care legislation and the new cost for the bill over ten years was a number that could be offset: $1 trillion.

Earlier this week, CBO scored the Finance Committee’s proposal as costing $1.6 trillion over 10 years.  Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) outlined some of the new savings to reporters yesterday, including reductions in future spending on Medicare and Medicaid in the form of hospital and doctor reimbursements as well as reducing federal premiums to purchase insurance for low-income workers.

The committee, however, is still struggling to determine how it will offset the $1 trillion legislation.  Last night, members of the committee told reporters that they will look outside of the health care system to find revenue for the health care legislation.  Senator Conrad told reporters that a possible revenue raiser could be adoption of President Obama’s budget proposal to reduce the tax deduction for charitable contributions for the highest tax bracket to 28 percent. 

Previously, the proposal had drawn criticism from many members of Congress and the philanthropic community as further reducing donations in an economy where fundraiser has grown increasingly difficult.  However, a major Congressional proposal to raise revenue by removing the tax exemption for employer-sponsored health care plans has continued to meet resistance from Finance committee members.  The concern is that removing the deduction would be akin to a tax increase.

With the report from the Giving USA Foundation last week that charitable donations actually decreased nation-wide last year for the second time ever, is adjusting the charitable tax deduction rate a viable way to finance health care legislation?

Quick Hits

Associations and organizations increase public advocacy on health care in preparation for next week’s Congressional district work period… New York Times article on President Obama balancing his proposals to balance the budget and pay for health care… White House Chief of Staff gives his definition of bipartisanship… Debate in the House over climate change legislation intensifies today in the face of a potential final vote.