The House approved a legislative package that will make substantial changes to the massive health care bill President Obama signed into law this week.
The 220-207 vote clears the bill for Obama’s signature and came after the Senate approved the measure just hours before by employing a rarely used parliamentary tactic that allowed it to pass the bill with 56 votes, instead of the usual 60 votes.
The bill alters the new $940 billion health care package by reducing the effect of a new tax on high-cost insurance plans unions had complained about, and instead imposes a higher Medicare payroll tax for those earning more than $200,000 and creates a new tax on investment income.
It also increases health care subsidies, provides a $250 rebate for prescription drugs paid for by senior citizens and cuts out a deal that would have guaranteed Nebraska permanent federal funding for the cost of the Medicaid expansion.
Every state will now get full funding for the additional Medicaid costs, but only for the first three years.
The bill also creates a new federal student loan program, projected savings from which are used to offset the cost of the bill.
Senate Republicans offered dozens of amendments, including one banning erectile dysfunction medication for sex offenders, hoping to make substantial changes to the bill in order to make it harder to pass in the House, but every one was rejected.
The GOP managed only to get the Senate parliamentarian to agree to its objections to some technical provisions in the bill, thus requiring the second vote in the House, which passed a similar bill on Sunday.
The debate offered a last chance for Republicans and Democrats to duel over the health care bill, which has consumed the Congress for the better part of a year.
Democrats touted a bill that will provide coverage for everyone while reducing the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next two years.
“We voted to do what was right for the American people, not for the insurance companies,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who is chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Republicans argued against what they called a flawed bill created by a flawed process and said it would raise insurance premiums and deprive people of adequate health care.
“The only thing bipartisan about this bill is the opposition to it,” said House Rules Committee ranking member David Dreier, R-Calif.
