Senate schedules ‘doc fix’ votes after delay

by Sarah Ferris - 04/14/15 7:17 PM ET

Senators blocked attempts to change the House-passed “doc fix” bill last Tuesday evening, as they work to approve the legislation before its midnight deadline.

Lawmakers voted on six amendments. If they had agreed to any of them, the legislation would have had to go back to the House.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), warning that House leadership has said it won’t pass another bill, added that “we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

{mosads}Movement on the “doc fix” legislation came shortly after 7 p.m., when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he had reached a deal to allow for the votes.

Both McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had urged passage of the rare bipartisan bill earlier Tuesday. But attempts to schedule a vote had been slowed to a halt by the half-dozen amendments floated by both parties.

The process had been slowed because of support for an amendment from Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), which repeals caps under Medicare for the amount of physical therapy that is covered.

But senators ultimately voted 58-42 to block the Maryland Democrat’s amendment from overcoming a procedural hurdle.

Senators also rejected an amendment from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would require Congress to fully offset the costs of the $200 billion bill, as well as one from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that would eliminate the 5 percent payment boosts to Medicare doctors under the current bill.

Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) attempt to repeal ObamaCare’s individual mandate to pay for the “doc fix” legislation was also unsuccessful.

The Texas Republican suggested his amendment was one part of a larger push by Republicans to try to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health law.

Democratic amendments on a women’s health package, which includes extra funding for health centers and extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for four years instead of two, were also rejected.

Liberal Democrats had pushed for the extra two years of CHIP funding, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested they were trying to “rewrite” the House legislation.

“Are you really saying that Leader Pelosi didn’t care enough about kids?” he asked.

McConnell, Reid and other senators huddled on the Senate floor Tuesday night ahead of the amendment votes to try to lock down a path forward.

Reid said senators had asked the Obama administration whether they could wait until noon Wednesday without yet triggering the cuts, but he said they had not heard back yet.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

– Updated at 9:18 p.m.

Tags Ben Cardin Chuck Grassley Harry Reid John Cornyn Mike Lee Mitch McConnell Orrin Hatch Tom Cotton