The final package of changes to a landmark healthcare reform law must be approved again by the US House of Representatives after the Senate parliamentarian struck two minor provisions yesterday.
Senate Democratic aides said the parliamentarian upheld two Republican challenges on points of order under budget reconciliation rules, requiring the House to approve the package again.
The points of order involved the revamp of the student loan program, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Under the reconciliation rules, each provision in the package must have a budgetary impact.
The decision came as the US Senate met in a middle-of-the-night session to try to finish the bill, which would put the finishing touches on the sweeping healthcare overhaul signed into law by US President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Senate Democrats had managed to fend off 30 Republican amendments designed to derail the bill before the parliamentarian’s decision was announced.
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