After a series of complex parliamentary maneuvers, the House approved a massive health care reform package on March 21, 2010, with over $400 billion in revenue raisers and new taxes on employers and individuals. The House passed H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the Patient Protection Act), approved by the Senate on December 24, 2009, along with H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Tax Credits Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the House Reconciliation Act). The House Reconciliation Act serves as a “sidecar” bill, allowing the House to move its changes to the Patient Protection Act using the budget reconciliation rules. These rules allow the Senate to pass the package with only 51 votes, rather than a 60-vote super-majority.

What’s next: President Obama is expected to sign The Patient Protection Act into law directly. However, since the House Reconciliation Act strikes out or modifies a number of provisions in the Senate’s Patient Protection Act to which House members had objected, the Senate now must pass the “sidecar” House Reconciliation Act before it becomes law. The Senate Democrats’ goal is to send a final package to the White House before a scheduled Congressional recess begins on March 29.

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