After months of private and public deliberations, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to on Tuesday finally complete its health care overhaul measure, making it the last of five Congressional panels to finish.
The vote will essentially end the long first phase of the legislative process and turn the attention of lawmakers and lobbyists to trying to influence the shape of the bill on the floor of the House and Senate. The schedule for deliberations remains in flux and the debate could be extensive, particularly in the Senate. But the leadership in both chambers appears intent on finishing a measure by the end of the year.
While lawmakers, who took Monday off for Columbus Day, await the arrival of the health overhaul on the House floor, there are other matters demanding attention.
Among them is a House vote set for this week on Iran sanctions. The measure under consideration would direct state and local governments to cease investment of public funds in any company that has more than $20 million tied up in Iran’s energy industry – a move intended to be a disincentive for major companies to do business in Iran.
The Senate also hopes to give final approval to the annual Pentagon policy measure and send the bill – and the expansion of the hate crimes law it contains – to President Obama. Final passage would mark the end of a long legislative struggle by gay rights advocates, who have sought to broaden the hate crimes law to cover acts of violence against individuals due to their sexual orientation.
Mr. Obama noted the imminent approval Saturday night during his speech to the Human Rights Campaign. “I can announce that after more than a decade, this bill is set to pass and I will sign it into law,” he said.
Conservative activists expect a legal challenge to be mounted once the measure is enacted.
At the same time, lawmakers are stepping up their push for repeal of the military’s don’t-ask, don’t-tell policy – another step Mr. Obama promised to take during Saturday’s speech.
“We should have done away with it years ago,” Representative Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral and Democrat from Pennsylvania, said Monday on CNN.
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