Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus told reporters today that there may be “one or two” changes to the health care reconciliation bill, meaning it could be sent back to the House for another vote.
“Anything is possible. We’ve constructed this thing so well … maybe one or two but they’re so minor they’re almost not even worth mentioning,” Baucus said.
Any changes to the bill, even minor, will send it back to the House for another vote there before it can go to the president’s desk.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), who also sits on the budget committee, made a similar point last week, saying it would be a close call on the some of the provisions in the reconciliation bill.
Additional reporting by Brian Beutler
Late update: But Conrad now says he’s confident there won’t be changes.
“We’ve found additional precedent that supports our view that nothing is Byrd-able,” he said, referring to the Byrd rule on which legislation may be passed under reconciliation.
