Senate Finance Committee pushes back health bill vote

Roll Call reports that the Senate Finance Committee is pushing back its health bill vote until Wednesday at the earliest as lawmakers wait for the Congressional Budget Office to finish scoring the measure. It's unclear how the delay might affect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's desire to move the bill to the Senate floor early next week. "Reid has indicated he would like to have his own CBO score of the merged product before bringing that measure to the floor" (Pierce, 10/5).

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said earlier today that "centrist Democrats are 'very open' to including a public option" in the Senate's health legislation. He estimated that there were between 54 and 56 favorable votes in the Senate. "'Here's how you have to look at it: The overwhelming majority of Democrats in the Senate are for it,' Schumer said this morning during an appearance on MSNBC. 'I'm talking to some of the moderates, and they're very open to it.'"

Schumer also argued that "the final bill to pass through all of Congress would have a public option, whether the Senate passes it initially or has to rely on a budget maneuver in the conference report to avoid the 60-vote filibuster threshold"(O'Brien, 10/5).

In other reform action, twenty House members signed a letter to the Democratic leadership speaking out against a proposed tax on medical devices to help pay for a $900 billion health care overhaul. Roll Call reports that "[t]he House letter was signed by Members from industry-heavy states such as Indiana, North Carolina and Minnesota. California Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also are expressing concerns about Baucus' proposed device tax, which is included in the Finance panel's health care package that's now up for a vote" (Murray, 10/5).