House Will Bring up HCR This Week

Last night, Speaker Pelosi filed the manager's amendment--the final tweaks--to the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). Here's the announcment describing the changes made in this amendment:

Building on the legislation House Democrats introduced last week, this manager’s amendment includes these key improvements to the bill:

• providing $1 billion in new resources to states to rein in price gouging by insurance companies,
• excluding insurers who put profits over patients from an affordable marketplace that will serve tens of millions of Americans,
• expanding on the provision that removed insurance companies’ anti-trust exemption and strengthening it to further promote competition and bring down costs for Americans; and
• expanding oversight to further prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

To read the manager’s amendment click here.  The full text of the bill is available here.

According to CQ, it's possible that they could bring the bill to a vote on the House floor as early as Saturday, Nov. 7. The Hill has a whip count here, based on media accounts, press releases and spokesmen for the lawmakers.

Here are their undecideds:

Brian Baird (Wash.)
Melissa Bean (Ill.)
Marion Berry (Ark.) Wants more aggressive action against HMOs, drug makers
Rick Boucher (Va.)
Dennis Cardoza (Calif.)
Yvette Clarke (N.Y.)
Chet Edwards (Texas) A perennial GOP target
Bob Etheridge (N.C.) May run for Senate
Bill Foster (Ill.) "Encouraged" House is moving forward
Bart Gordon (Tenn.) Republicans targeting Science panel chairman
Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) Wants vote on "robust" public option
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.)
Baron Hill (Ind.)
Frank Kratovil (Md.) Voted yes on climate change bill; GOP targeting him
Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) He said he "will have trouble voting for anything other than robust public option."
Daniel Lipinski (Ill.) Opposes abortion rights
Betsy Markey (Colo.) Has concerns with cost of the bill
Jim Marshall (Ga.)
Eric Massa (N.Y.) Fan of single-payer approach
Jim Matheson (Utah) Prefers Senate Finance measure; voted no in committee
Harry Mitchell (Ariz.)
Dennis Moore (Kan.) Was target of death threat last summer over healthcare reform
Jim Oberstar (Minn.)
Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Zack Space (Ohio)
Harry Teague (N.M.) Skeptic of public option

Grijalva and Kusinich have both been holding out for somtehing better, Grijalva for a robust public option amendment, and Kucinich and Massa for single payer. Some of them--Brian Baird?--are just head scratchers, some (Oberstar, Lipinski) having been holding out on the Stupak abortion amendment, and others are predictable Blue Dogs who don't want to be looking like they agree with Nancy Pelosi on anything.

In a bow to the abortion opponents, Slaughter says that the rule will include anti-abortion language from Rep. Brad Ellsworth.

The Ellsworth language would become part of the House adopts the rule for the bill, Slaughter said. It would explicitly prohibit federal funding for abortions and also guarantee patients access to "pro-life" insurance plans that would not cover the procedure.

Stupak, according to CQ, is still holding his breath. As of yet, there's no word from leadership on what they've done to appease progressives.