Capitol Briefing

By Paul Kane
The House has officially begun debate on President Obama's massive health-care proposal, with a final vote likely to come some time after 8 p.m. Several key moments have already occured, while a few more are in the offing, providing a glimpse of what the outcome will look like once all the votes are tallied. With not a single Republican expected to support the legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) needs at least 218 of the 258 Democrats -- about 85 percent of the caucus -- to vote yes to reach victory.

Here's an insider's guide to the day's big moments:

* Opening Gavel: Democratic leaders had hoped the day's session to begin around 9 a.m. Saturday, about an hour earlier than most legislative sessions start, but they first took up a few non-controversial, unrelated pieces of legislation. According The Post's Sketch maven Dana Milbank, the formal health-care debate kicked off at 10:42 a.m. That was the preliminary debate on the bill, overseen by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the chairman and a senior Republican on the Rules Committee.

* Rules of Debate: The first hour or so of debate on the nearly 2,000-page legislation focused on what is known as "the rule." Slaughter's committee establishes the rules governing the debate for every key piece of legislation -- how long each side gets, how many amendments can be offered, which amendments can be offered. In addition, the Rules Committee makes last-minute changes to the overall bill, and this time around Slaughter inserted language designed to be a compromise on abortion. A bloc of two dozen Democrats, many of them anti-abortion Catholics, held out support because they believed the original draft would open the door to federal funding of abortions. The "rule" vote is routinely party line, but 15 Democrats voted against the rule because they either did not support the abortion compromise or opposed the overall legislation. This vote occured shortly after 1 p.m., winning approval on a 242-192 vote. All Republicans voted no, and Pelosi -- as is often the custom with the House speaker on non-controversial matters -- did not vote. Do the math: This means all 435 members of the House are here.

Updated 1:29 a.m.
By Lori Montgomery
House Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to settle an impasse over abortion by letting the entire House vote on a proposed solution, a risky decision that could determine the fate of their trillion-dollar overhaul of the nation's health care system.

Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

The deal clears the way for the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who oppose abortion to lend their support to the health care package, the most dramatic expansion of health coverage in more than 40 years. It also satisfies the demands of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had threatened to oppose the House bill.

If the amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) passes, said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops conference, "we become enthusiastic advocates for moving forward with health care reform."

The amendment is expected to pass with the combined support of more than 40 anti-abortion Democrats and virtually every House Republican. That likelihood meant that leaders of the much larger group of Democrats who support abortion rights were not happy to learn of the deal.

"There will be no abortion, not just with public funds, but with private funds under the public option, and that's not acceptable," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

House leaders met with that bloc of Democrats late Friday to try to quell their frustration., but the agreement makes clear that they believe abortion-rights Democrats will find it difficult to vote against the health-care bill even with such a restriction attached to it.

"This is a small facet of the bill that's very important to a lot of people," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), adding that the greater goal is to pass legislation that makes health care "affordable and accessible to all Americans."

By Paul Kane
The ethics committee is not investigating Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), whose conversation with an Israeli operative four years ago drew scrutiny from the Justice Department and for a time from the committee.

The committee's top lawmakers assured Harman that there is no investigation in a letter Wednesday, a week after The Washington Post reported that Harman was one of nearly three dozen lawmakers whose activities were under scrutiny by the committee and the new Office of Congressional Ethics.

"While the committee does not confirm or elaborate on media reports, the committee is not conducting an investigation regarding your conduct," wrote Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the panel's chairman, and Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), its ranking member.

On June 9, the ethics committee approved subpoenas to the Justice Department, FBI and National Security Agency for "certain intercepted communications," a reference to Harman's call to the Israeli operative, according to a 22-page document outlining the committee's work in July. Harman was reportedly heard agreeing to a request to try to obtain leniency for two pro-Israeli lobbyists in exchange for the agent's help in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to name her intelligence chairman.

By Perry Bacon Jr. and Dina ElBoghdady
Congress on Thursday completed final approval of a bill that includes several measures designed to spur the economy and help people who have lost their jobs, representing its latest intervention as the country suffers through its worst recession in decades.

The $24 billion bill, which the White House said President Obama will sign on Friday, would provide unemployment benefits of least 14 weeks for people out of work. Those in the more than two dozen states with unemployment rates above 8.5 percent would receive up to 20 weeks of the benefits. The legislation would also extend through April 30 a $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit that was passed earlier this year.

Another provision allows businesses that had operating losses in 2008 and 2009 to seek refunds for taxes paid on profits over the past five years. It passed in the House on Thursday 403-12 after the Senate approved it Wednesday by a 90-0 vote.

"It's hard to think of any other initiative we can name that is as beneficial to job creation," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said of the unemployment benefits provision. "Its original purpose is fairness to those workers who have paid into the insurance system, and now they are getting insurance benefits, but it also has an impact as a stimulant. "

Under the housing program, people seeking to own a home for the first time in three years would receive an $8,000 tax credit if they sign a contract by April 30 and close on it by June 30. Current homeowners who are buying a new primary residence would be eligible for a $6,500 tax credit starting Dec. 1 if they owned their home for five consecutive years in the previous eight.

The timing is more lenient for military families who have been deployed overseas for 90 days or more in 2008 or 2009. They would have until April 30, 2011 to sign a contract.

But the measure limits the purchase price of the home to $800,000. It also imposes income caps so that people who make more than $125,000 annually and couples who make more than $225,000 would not be eligible for a refund. Anyone who collects the tax credit but sells their home within three years of buying it must return the refund.

The program is estimated to cost $10.8 billion.

The passage of the tax credit provision was a huge win for the real estate industry, which has been lobbying aggressively to extend and expand the program. They say the tax credit has helped boost sales and clear out a glut of lower-priced homes, especially foreclosures, and that ending it would be a blow to the housing market's recovery.

But critics of the program, including some economists, say the program is far too expensive. They say that most people who used it would have bought homes anyway. They attribute the uptick in home sales in recent months more to low prices and record low interest rates.

The bill is part of a series of proposals Democrats are considering to help boost the economy and aid Americans out of work. While they are weary of casting the policies as a "second stimulus" because the $787 billion bill passed earlier this year remains controversial because of its cost even as unemployment remains high, all the provisions in the bill were in the original stimulus legislation but set to expire.

The bill had been delayed for weeks as the two parties debated a number of issues not directly related to the provisions. Republicans unsuccessfully tried to force a vote on the bill to attach a provision to end the Troubled Asset Relief Program that was part of last year's effort to aid troubled financial firms.

By Ben Pershing
The House ethics committee has informed Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) that he has been cleared of wrongdoing and is no longer under investigation by the panel for allegations that a real estate development in which he invested may have received preferential treatment from a government agency.

Shuler, the former Washington Redskins quarterback who was elected to Congress in 2006, had previously been part of a probe by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Inspector General because of his investment in a real estate development called the Cove at Blackberry Ridge near Knoxville. According to a letter sent to Shuler Wednesday by the ethics committee, that IG investigation "could not find any evidence that you violated any ethics rules." And after its own "thorough review," the committee said it "has determined that your actions in these matters were not improper in any way and did not violate House rules."

In a news release announcing his exoneration, Shuler said: "Throughout my personal and professional life I have always held myself to the highest possible ethical standard. I maintained that standard through all my interactions with the TVA relating to Blackberry Cove. I have never and will never attempt to use my office for personal gain and look forward to continuing to work on behalf of the people of Western North Carolina."

The fact that Shuler was under investigation by the ethics committee was disclosed last week by The Washington Post, which based its report on an ethics committee document the newspaper obtained outlining the status of several different investigations as of July. The document said the committee was "Preparing Recommendations" at the time.

Shuler invested in the Cove real estate project before he was elected to Congress. In August 2008, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that the TVA gave the Cove valuable waterfront rights to build a boat dock in exchange for other land the real estate venture owned. The swap occurred while Shuler sat on a House subcommittee that oversaw the operations of the TVA, but Shuler has said he had no contact with or influence on the agency before it made its decision.

The ethics panel letter states that, according to the IG report, "in order to avoid the appearance of partiality, Blackberry was held to a higher standard for approval than were others." The letter further discloses that "the FBI also reviewed the facts surrounding the application and also concluded that there was no evidence that criminal statutes were violated."

Updated 12:51 p.m.
By Philip Rucker
As thousands of activists converged on the lawn of the Capitol for a midday rally against Democrats' health-care reform legislation, Capitol Police arrested nine protesters Thursday morning in the Hart Senate Office Building.

The protesters were arrested about 10 a.m. on the seventh floor of the Hart Building and were charged with unlawful entry, a Capitol Police spokeswoman said.

"They were inside an office and didn't leave," Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said.

A noon rally was scheduled for the steps of the Capitol in protest of the health-reform bill that House Democrats plan to take up for a floor vote Saturday.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is leading the "Hands Off Our Health Care!" rally and has said she plans to lead protesters through congressional office buildings for a series of "House calls" orchestrated to intimidate members against voting for health-care reform.

By Lori Montgomery
The AARP, the nation's largest and most influential association of older Americans, endorsed the House health-care bill Thursday morning and vowed to lobby House members in advance of Saturday's historic vote.

AARP vice president Nancy A. LeaMond said the House package, which would spend more than $1 trillion over the next decade to expand insurance coverage to millions of Americans who lack it, meets the group's chief goals for reform, including strengthening Medicare, the federal health program for people over 65.

"We can say with confidence that it meets our priorities for protecting Medicare, providing more affordable health insurance for 50- to 64-year-olds and reforming our health care system," LeaMond said in a briefing for reporters.

LeaMond praised House leaders for including a plan to close the coverage gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage known as the donut hole. Key Democrats said the endorsement, one of several expected today, could prove critical to pushing their vote count over the top.

"This gives the bill a very important boost,' said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the House leadership. "Some of our members are very nervous about how this bill has been received by seniors. For AARP to endorse it provides important validation."

The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. ET. There will be 40 minutes for debate with respect to H.R. 2847, Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations. At 12:15, the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the committee reported substitute amendment to H.R. 2847.

The House meets at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business. The House will begin consideration of H.R. 2868, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009.

For a list of Congressional committee hearings, visit Today in Congress.

Visit our Votes Database for more information on the House and Senate, including vote history and member profiles.

By Juliet Eilperin
Senate Democrats are likely to pass their climate bill out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee without amendments Thursday, several sources familiar with the plan said Wednesday night.

Facing an ongoing Republican boycott of the committee's markup of the bill, the panel's chairman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), is considering reporting out the measure with a simple majority, the sources said. That move would not require the presence of two minority members, which is traditionally required for a markup.

Republican senators have defended the boycott, saying that they should not act on the bill -- sponsored by Boxer and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) -- until they get a more extensive analysis of it from the Environmental Protection Agency.

David McIntosh, associate administrator for EPA's office of congressional and intergovernmental relations, testified before the panel Tuesday that such a study would cost $135,000 and would take 1,600 man-hours to complete. He added that such an analysis would not yield significantly different results from the one the agency has already done on the Senate bill.

An aide to Boxer declined to comment on the matter Wednesday night. The committee is convening at 9 a.m. Thursday.

By Lori Montgomery
The long-awaited Republican entry in the health care debate received its assessment late Wednesday from congressional budget analysts, who concluded that the proposal would barely dent the ranks of the uninsured.

The measure would cover only 3 million additional people at a cost of $60 billion through 2019, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It would leave more than 52 million Americans uninsured a decade from now.

"The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, roughly in line with the current share," CBO director Douglas Elmendorf wrote in a letter to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

The costs of coverage would be more than offset by other provisions, reducing projected budget deficits by $68 billion by 2019.

Boehner plans to offer the proposal as an alternative to the Democratic package when the House debates health reform as soon as this weekend. The measure, unveiled last week after mounting taunts from Democrats, seeks to expand coverage primarily by lowering the cost of insurance through regulatory reforms, state grants, federal funding for state-based high-risk pools and an expansion of tax-exempt health savings accounts.

By way of comparison, the bill crafted by House Democratic leaders would spend $1.055 trillion to expand coverage to 36 million additional Americans, leaving 96 percent of nonelderly legal adults with coverage by 2019, according to the CBO. The Democratic bill would also do slightly more to reduce future deficits, by $104 billion over the next decade.