The push for health care reform is moving fast and furiously, so I thought it’d be helpful to have semi-daily “Health on the Hill” updates that should help you keep track of the reform debate and get to the meat of the issue. Enjoy!

Today’s Updates – 11/16/09:

Now that the House has passed their health care bill, we await the Senate bill and look ahead to the long and tricky procedural debate that is in store for health care reform legislation. Today we have heard from Senator Harkin (D-Iowa), who now heads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, with some updated information regarding the time line for when we can expect final health care legislation to pass Congress once and for all and hit Obama’s desk. While Harkin expects the Senate will vote this week to even begin the debate, the debate is not expected to take place until after Thanksgiving. The conference debate, where both House and Senate bills will be merged, is not expected until mid-January. Not that familiar with Senate procedures — especially regarding getting this health care reform bill out of Congress? Check out this slightly outdated, yet still very helpful piece from Congress Matters:

Questions on the Senate’s health care procedure

Once passed by both the House and the Senate, the bill would go to conference, where just about anything can happen to it. Technically, there are rules about what can happen, but they’re frequently ignored, and if both houses vote to adopt a conference report that doesn’t comply with the rules, oh well. Too bad. It’s passed anyway. Which means, for instance, that even though it’s normally against the rules for things that didn’t show up in either version of the bill to be inserted into the conference report, that sometimes does happen. Likewise, something that’s in both versions can come out, if that’s what they decide to do, and can get together the votes to make it work.

In the meantime, Campus Progress, along with many other youth and pro-choice organizations, are working to make sure that the Stupak-Pitts amendment, which was included in the House health care bill, does not end up in the final legislation. Want to learn more about this amendment that will restrict abortion coverage? Come to our informational event this Wednesday if you’re in D.C. or read more about the amendment here!

News Links:

Harkin says Senate will work weekends this December on health

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, predicted during an interview on the liberal “Bill Press Radio Show” that the Senate will have the 60 votes needed to call up the healthcare bill this week. But Harkin said senators will not begin amending the legislation until after the Thanksgiving break.

Harkin: Senate health care debate will begin ‘in earnest’ Nov. 30

As for the rest of the schedule, Harkin told the liberal radio station that he expects a vote on the bill shortly before Christmas. House-Senate conferees would begin work on a final bill in early January, he said, with the goal of getting it to the president by mid-January.

Harkin Expects CBO Score of Health Bill by Tomorrow

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) signaled today that “Senate Democrats expect the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to release its score of the health bill by tomorrow, a figure eagerly anticipated by Democrats and Republicans before the health debate begins,” The Hill reports.