II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 685 

To establish an expedited procedure for congressional consideration of health 

care reform legislation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2007 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself and Mr. GRAHAM) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish an expedited procedure for congressional 

consideration of health care reform legislation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reform Health Care 

5 Now Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENATE CONSIDERATION OF HEALTH CARE RE7 FORM LEGISLATION. 

8 (a) INTRODUCTION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 calendar 

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1 gress that follows the date of enactment of this Act, 

2 the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Edu3 cation, Labor, and Pensions, the Chair of the Senate 

4 Committee on Finance, the Majority Leader of the 

5 Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Senate shall 

6 each introduce a bill to provide a significant increase 

7 in access to health care coverage for the people of 

8 the United States. 

9 (2) MINORITY PARTY.—These bills may be in10 troduced by request and only 1 qualified bill may be 

11 introduced by each individual referred to in para12 graph (1) within a Congress. If either committee 

13 chair fails to introduce the bill within the 30-day pe14 riod, the ranking minority party member of the re15 spective committee may instead introduce a bill that 

16 will qualify for the expedited procedure provided in 

17 this section. 

18 (3) QUALIFIED BILL.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—In order to qualify as a 

20 qualified bill— 

21 (i) the title of the bill shall be ‘‘To re22 form the health care system of the United 

23 States and to provide insurance coverage 

24 for Americans.’’; 


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1 (ii) the bill shall reach the goal of pro2 viding health care coverage to 95 percent 

3 of Americans within 10 years; and 

4 (iii) the bill shall be deficit neutral. 

5 (B) DETERMINATION.—Whether or not a 

6 bill meets the criteria in subparagraph (A) shall 

7 be determined by the Chair of the Senate Budg8 et Committee, relying on estimates of the Con9 gressional Budget Office, subject to the final 

10 approval of the Senate. 

11 (b) REFERRAL.— 

12 (1) COMMITTEE BILLS.—Upon introduction, the 

13 bill authored by the Chair of the Senate Committee 

14 on Finance shall be referred to that Committee and 

15 the bill introduced by the Chair of the Senate Com16 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

17 shall be referred to that committee. If either com18 mittee has not reported the bill referred to it (or an19 other qualified bill) by the end of a 60 calendar-day 

20 period beginning on the date of referral, the com21 mittee is, as of that date, automatically discharged 

22 from further consideration of the bill, and the bill is 

23 placed directly on the chamber’s legislative calendar. 

24 In calculating the 60-day period, adjournments for 

25 more than 3 days are not counted. 


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1 (2) LEADER BILLS.—The bills introduced by 

2 the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority 

3 Leader shall, on introduction, be placed directly on 

4 the Senate Calendar of Business. 

5 (c) MOTION TO PROCEED.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—On or after the third day 

7 following the committee report or discharge or upon 

8 a bill being placed on the calendar under subsection 

9 (b)(2), it shall be in order for any Member, after 

10 consultation with the Majority Leader, to move to 

11 proceed to the consideration of any qualified bill. 

12 Notice shall first be given before proceeding. This 

13 motion to proceed to the consideration of a bill can 

14 be offered by a Member only on the day after the 

15 calendar day on which the Member announces the 

16 Member’s intention to offer it. 

17 (2) CONSIDERATION.—The motion to proceed 

18 to a given qualified bill can be made even if a motion 

19 to the same effect has previously been rejected. No 

20 more than 3 such motions may be made, however, 

21 in any 1 congressional session. 

22 (3) PRIVILEGED AND NONDEBATABLE.—The 

23 motion to proceed is privileged, and all points of 

24 order against the motion to proceed to consideration 

25 and its consideration are waived. The motion is not 


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1 debatable, is not amendable, and is not subject to a 

2 motion to postpone. 

3 (4) NO OTHER BUSINESS OR RECONSIDER4 ATION.—The motion is not subject to a motion to 

5 proceed to the consideration of other business. A 

6 motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

7 to proceed is agreed to or disagreed to is not in 

8 order. 

9 (d) CONSIDERATION OF QUALIFIED BILL.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the motion to proceed is 

11 adopted, the chamber shall immediately proceed to 

12 the consideration of a qualified bill without inter13 vening motion, order, or other business, and the bill 

14 remains the unfinished business of the Senate until 

15 disposed of. A motion to limit debate is in order and 

16 is not debatable. 

17 (2) ONLY BUSINESS.—The qualified bill is not 

18 subject to a motion to postpone or a motion to pro19 ceed to the consideration of other business before 

20 the bill is disposed of. 

21 (3) RELEVANT AMENDMENTS.—Only relevant 

22 amendments may be offered to the bill. 

23 SEC. 3. HOUSE CONSIDERATION OF HEALTH CARE REFORM 

24 LEGISLATION. 

25 (a) INTRODUCTION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 calendar 

2 days after the commencement of the session of Con3 gress that follows the date of enactment of this Act, 

4 the chair of the House Committee on Energy and 

5 Commerce, the chair of the House Committee on 

6 Ways and Means, the Majority Leader of the House, 

7 and the Minority Leader of the House shall each in8 troduce a bill to provide a significant increase in ac9 cess to health care coverage for the people of the 

10 United States. 

11 (2) MINORITY PARTY.—These bills may be in12 troduced by request and only 1 qualified bill may be 

13 introduced by each individual referred to in para14 graph (1) within a Congress. If either committee 

15 chair fails to introduce the bill within the 30-day pe16 riod, the ranking minority party member of the re17 spective committee may, within the following 30 

18 days, instead introduce a bill that will qualify for the 

19 expedited procedure provided in this section. 

20 (3) QUALIFIED BILL.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—To qualify for the expe22 dited procedure under this section as a qualified 

23 bill, the bill shall— 


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1 (i) reach the goal of providing 

2 healthcare coverage to 95 percent of Amer3 icans within 10 years; and 

4 (ii) be deficit neutral. 

5 (B) DETERMINATION.—Whether or not a 

6 bill meets the criteria in subparagraph (A) shall 

7 be determined by the Speaker’s ruling on a 

8 point of order based on a Congressional Budget 

9 Office estimate of the bill. 

10 (b) REFERRAL.— 

11 (1) COMMITTEE BILLS.—Upon introduction, the 

12 bill authored by the Chair of the House Committee 

13 on Energy and Commerce shall be referred to that 

14 committee and the bill introduced by the Chair of 

15 the House Committee on Ways and Means shall be 

16 referred to that committee. If either committee has 

17 not reported the bill referred to it (or another quali18 fied bill) by the end of 60 days of consideration be19 ginning on the date of referral, the committee shall 

20 be automatically discharged from further consider21 ation of the bill, and the bill shall be placed directly 

22 on the Calendar of the Whole House on the State 

23 of the Union. In calculating the 60-day period, ad24 journments for more than 3 days are not counted. 


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1 (2) LEADER BILLS.—The bills introduced by 

2 the House Majority Leader and House Minority 

3 Leader will, on introduction, be placed directly on 

4 the Calendar of the Whole House on the State of the 

5 Union. 

6 (c) MOTION TO PROCEED.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—On or after the third day 

8 following the committee report or discharge or upon 

9 a bill being placed on the calendar under subsection 

10 (b)(2), it shall be in order for any Member, after 

11 consultation with the Majority Leader, to move to 

12 proceed to the consideration of any qualified bill. 

13 Notice must first be given before proceeding. This 

14 motion to proceed to the consideration of a bill can 

15 be offered by a Member only on the day after the 

16 calendar day on which the Member announces the 

17 Member’s intention to offer it. 

18 (2) CONSIDERATION.—The motion to proceed 

19 to a given qualified bill can be made even if a motion 

20 to the same effect has previously been rejected. No 

21 more than 3 such motions may be made, however, 

22 in any 1 congressional session. 

23 (3) PRIVILEGED AND NONDEBATABLE.—The 

24 motion to proceed is privileged, and all points of 

25 order against the motion to proceed to consideration 


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1 and its consideration are waived. The motion is not 

2 debatable, is not amendable, and is not subject to a 

3 motion to postpone. 

4 (4) NO OTHER BUSINESS OR RECONSIDER5 ATION.—The motion is not subject to a motion to 

6 proceed to the consideration of other business. A 

7 motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

8 to proceed is agreed to or disagreed to is not in 

9 order. 

10 (d) CONSIDERATION OF A QUALIFIED BILL.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the motion to proceed is 

12 adopted, the chamber will immediately proceed to 

13 the consideration of a qualified bill without inter14 vening motion, order, or other business, and the bill 

15 remains the unfinished business of the House until 

16 disposed of. 

17 (2) COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.—The bill will 

18 be considered in the Committee of the Whole under 

19 the 5-minute rule, and the bill shall be considered as 

20 read and open for amendment at any time. 

21 (3) LIMIT DEBATE.—A motion to further limit 

22 debate is in order and is not debatable. 

23 (4) RELEVANT AMENDMENTS.—Only relevant 

24 amendments may be offered to the bill. 

Æ 


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