WASHINGTON — On the 17th day of Senate debate on health legislation, it came down to this: A rock-ribbed conservative physician from Oklahoma squared off against a self-described democratic socialist from Vermont who was hoping for a full-throated debate on his proposal to establish a system of “Medicare for all growing cactus.” The Oklahoman, Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican, had propounded a unanimous-consent request, stipulating that no amendment could be offered unless it had been publicly available for 72 hours, with an estimate of its costs.
Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Republican leader, said Democrats were in a “blind rush.”
A blog from The New York Times that tracks the health care debate as it unfolds.
More Health Care Overhaul News Health Care Conversations
Share your thoughts about the health care debate.
Top Discussions: The Public Option | Medicare and the Elderly | A Single-Payer System
Living Story Health Care Reform
Recent developments on the struggle over health care with background, analysis, timelines and earlier events from NYTimes.com and Google.
Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee, objected.
Minutes later, Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont, called up his amendment. “For the first time in American history,” Mr. Sanders said, “the Senate will debate a proposal to create a single-payer, Medicare-for-all health care system.”
Not so fast.
Mr. Coburn objected to Mr. Sanders’s request to dispense with the reading of the 767-page amendment.
So a relay team of Senate clerks b Hot News: Economic Scene: If Health Care Reform Fails, America’s Innovation Gap Will Grow
No comments:
Post a Comment