US House and Senate begin hammering out differences in health reform bills

Although the US Congress is technically in recess – the House of Representatives until January 12th and the Senate until January 19th – key lawmakers got down to work the week commencing January 4th, trying to hammer out the differences between the versions of health reform legislation passed by the two bodies. Only when the two vote in support of identical language can the measure move to President Barack Obama to be signed into law. The goal is to get that done by the end of this month, but it is not a firm deadline and the final votes may slip into February.