In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2009
House Meets At... 9:00 a.m.: Legislative Business
First Vote Predicted... 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Last Vote Predicted... 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
"One Minutes" (5 per side)
Complete Consideration of H.R. 3619 - Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (Rep. Oberstar – Transportation and Infrastructure)
* Flake Amendment #1 (10 minutes)
* Flake Amendment #2 (10 minutes)
* Kirkpatrick Amendment (10 minutes)
* Kratovil Amendment (10 minutes)
* Nye Amendment (10 minutes)
* Stupak Amendment (10 minutes)
* LoBiondo/Coble Amendment #2 (10 minutes)
- Conference Reports may be brought up at any time.
Motions to go to Conference should they become available.
Possible Motions to Instruct Conferees.
A short workday for the House, as they finish up on the Coast Guard authorization bill. The Senate is out of session for the day. No committee meetings are scheduled.
Today's focus, unsurprisingly, will be on the health insurance reform bill. Senators Reid (D-NV), Schumer (D-NY), Durbin (D-IL) and Murray (D-WA) met at the White House to discuss their progress last night. Reports conflict about exactly what was said and how it was intended, received, etc., but if you let the stories meet in the middle, I think you're looking at a progress report to date (along the lines of "We're thinking about including some form of public option"), and some noncommittal probing from the White House (along the lines of "What about this option? That one?").
Back on the Hill, House Democrats will meet today to discuss their options and continue their head counting to see which ones have the best chance of garnering a majority on the floor. Again, there are conflicting reports out there about who's in, who's out, whether any one option has or is close to a majority, etc. It's a fluid situation, and even today's meeting is unlikely to settle it once and for all. But the picture may start to become a little clearer soon, even if there's still a long haul ahead.