Senate Vote Expected Saturday would move the Senate Health Reform Bill forward for debate

The technical procedures and process in the Senate is different than the House and makes the process for trying to pass this Bill before the end of the year more challenging. As part of the unveiling of the bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) outlined the process by which the Senate bill is expected to move through required procedural steps to get to the vote.

• Senator Reid has already filed cloture on the motion to proceed on his health care bill. It is expected that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill will occur on Saturday night. In order to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed, 60 votes are required. This is a vote to simply move to consideration of the bill, not the bill itself.
• If cloture is invoked on the motion to proceed, there will likely be three weeks of debate on the bill, with numerous procedural votes, before a final vote on the bill is held.
• The timeline for debate combined with the holidays makes is difficult (but possible) for the Senate to pass reform before the end of the year. The process is very fluid and President Obama may end up playing a key role especially if he pushes for compromise in order to pass a bill before this session of Congress ends.
• Both the House and Senate are targeting to adjourn on December 18th but that also appears optimistic.