With the House poised to overwhelmingly pass a $200 billion measure to end annual cuts to the Medicare reimbursement rate, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hinted that Senate Democrats are prepared to drop their earlier objections to the measure.
“I believe this will move,” Pelosi said Thursday at a news conference just before the House vote.
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The rare bipartisan accord would permanently end an annual cut associated with the Sustainable Growth Rate and would extend the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program by two years.
Senate Democrats have not indicated whether they will back the measure, but objections have been softening over recent days to language in the bill that prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortion services.
“I hope we have a good strong vote here today and that will encourage the Senate to take up the bill as soon as possible,” Pelosi said.
According to Republican leadership aides, the Senate could hold a vote on the measure as soon as work on the budget is completed, perhaps by early Friday morning.
Senate Democrats are under increasing pressure to support the bill.
President Obama on Wednesday pledged to sign it into law, while House Democrats and Republicans have continued to tout the plan as a long-sought solution to the annual drop in the Medicare reimbursement rate, which must be stopped with yearly legislative patches.
Pelosi said the measure was “very objective, clear cut, what can we do to remove this fight from the calendar in a way that is transformative and will lower cost for Medicare.”
Many conservatives are opposed to the bill because Congressional Budget Office calculations show it will increase the deficit by $141 billion over the next decade, compared to the current law. Their opposition will likely be outweighed by the GOP-Democratic alliance.
