US HEALTH REFORM MOVES PRE-RECESS

Before the memorial Day 10-day recess, the US Senate labor and Human Resources Committee, the only full panel in either chamber now voting on a health bill, accepted 19 of the 30 Republican amendments so far offered.

It accepted the streamlining of a group of public health grants, a compromise revision of the section of the health bill on school-based health clinics, and a major new cost-containment measure that would allow a national health board and the Congressional Budget Office to recommend changes to the health reform package if it goes well over cost expectation. But voting for the compromises does not ensure that the Republicans will vote against the bill itself, which seems likely.

The Committee's ranking Republican, Senator Nancy Kassebaum, praised the panel members for working together but said it will be tough to get a comprehensive bill through in this Congress. And Senator Jeff Bingaman, who has been a key conciliator in the committee, feels that at the end of the markup Republicans still do not want to approve or vote for the bill in the form it is coming out of committee.