II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2576

To establish an expedited procedure for congressional consideration of health 

care reform legislation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2004

Mr. FEINGOLD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

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 ‘‘Health Care Reform 

5 Expedited Procedures Act of 2004’’. 

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

8 (a) INTRODUCTION.— 

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

10 days after the commencement of the first session of 
2

•S 2576 IS 

1 a Congress, the chair of the Senate Committee on 

2 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, the Chair 

3 of the Senate Committee on Finance, the Majority 

4 Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of 

5 the Senate shall each introduce a bill to provide uni6 versal health care coverage for the people of the 

7 United States. 

8 (2) MINORITY PARTY.—These bills may be in9 troduced by request and only 1 qualified bill may be 

10 introduced by each individual referred to in para11 graph (1) within a Congress. If either committee 

12 chair fails to introduce the bill within the 30-day pe13 riod, the ranking minority party member of the re14 spective committee may instead introduce a bill that 

15 will qualify for the expedited procedure provided in 

16 this section. 

17 (3) QUALIFIED BILL.— 

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

19 qualified bill— 

20 (i) the title of the bill shall be ‘‘To re21 form the system of the United States and 

22 to provide insurance coverage for all Amer23 icans.’’; and 
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•S 2576 IS 

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

3 of Americans within 10 years. 

4 (B) DETERMINATION.—Whether or not a 

5 bill meets the criteria in subparagraph (A) shall 

6 be determined by the Chair of the Senate Budg7 et Committee, relying on estimates of the Con8 gressional Budget Office, subject to the final 

9 approval of the Senate. 

10 (b) REFERRAL.— 

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

12 bill authored by the Chair of the Senate Committee 

13 on Finance shall be referred to that Committee and 

14 the bill introduced by the Chair of the Senate Com15 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

16 shall be referred to that committee. If either com17 mittee has not reported the bill referred to it (or an18 other qualified bill) by the end of a 60 calendar-day 

19 period beginning on the date of referral, the com20 mittee is, as of that date, automatically discharged 

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

22 placed directly on the chamber’s legislative calendar. 

23 In calculating the 60-day period, adjournments for 

24 more than 3 days are not counted. 
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•S 2576 IS 

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 his or 

16 her 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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•S 2576 IS 

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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•S 2576 IS 

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

2 days after the commencement of the first session of 

3 a Congress, the chair of the House Committee on 

4 Energy and Commerce, the chair of the House Com5 mittee on Ways and Means, the Majority Leader of 

6 the House, and the Minority Leader of the House 

7 shall each introduce a bill to provide universal health 

8 care coverage for the people of 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, within the following 30 

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

17 expedited procedure provided in this section. 

18 (3) QUALIFIED BILL.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—To qualify for the expe20 dited procedure under this section as a qualified 

21 bill, the bill shall reach the goal of providing 

22 healthcare coverage to 95 percent of Americans 

23 within 10 years. 

24 (B) DETERMINATION.—Whether or not a 

25 bill meets the criteria in subparagraph (A) shall 
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•S 2576 IS 

1 be determined by the Speaker’s ruling on a 

2 point of order based on a Congressional Budget 

3 Office estimate of the bill. 

4 (b) REFERRAL.— 

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

6 bill authored by the Chair of the House Committee 

7 on Energy and Commerce will be referred to that 

8 committee and the bill introduced by the Chair of 

9 the House Committee on Ways and Means shall be 

10 referred to that committee. If either committee has 

11 not reported the bill referred to it (or another quali12 fied bill) by the end of 60 days of consideration be13 ginning on the date of referral, the committee shall 

14 be automatically discharged from further consider15 ation of the bill, and the bill shall be placed directly 

16 on the Calendar of the Whole House on the State 

17 of the Union. In calculating the 60-day period, ad18 journments for more than 3 days are not counted. 

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

20 the House Majority Leader and House Minority 

21 Leader will, on introduction, be placed directly on 

22 the Calendar of the Whole House on the State of the 

23 Union. 

24 (c) MOTION TO PROCEED.— 
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•S 2576 IS 

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

2 following the committee report or discharge or upon 

3 a bill being placed on the calendar under subsection 

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

5 consultation with the Majority Leader, to move to 

6 proceed to the consideration of any qualified bill. 

7 Notice must first be given before proceeding. This 

8 motion to proceed to the consideration of a bill can 

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

10 calendar day on which the Member announces his or 

11 her intention to offer it. 

12 (2) CONSIDERATION.—The motion to proceed 

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

14 to the same effect has previously been rejected. No 

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

16 in any 1 congressional session. 

17 (3) PRIVILEGED AND NONDEBATABLE.—The 

18 motion to proceed is privileged, and all points of 

19 order against the motion to proceed to consideration 

20 and its consideration are waived. The motion is not 

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

22 motion to postpone. 

23 (4) NO OTHER BUSINESS OR RECONSIDER24 ATION.—The motion is not subject to a motion to 

25 proceed to the consideration of other business. A 
9

•S 2576 IS 

1 motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

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

3 order. 

4 (d) CONSIDERATION OF A QUALIFIED BILL.— 

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

6 adopted, the chamber will immediately proceed to 

7 the consideration of a qualified bill without inter8 vening motion, order, or other business, and the bill 

9 remains the unfinished business of the House until 

10 disposed of. 

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

12 be considered in the Committee of the Whole under 

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

14 read and open for amendment at any time. 

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

16 debate is in order and is not debatable. 

17 (4) RELEVANT AMENDMENTS.—Only relevant 

18 amendments may be offered to the bill.

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