Conrad: House has to pass Senate health bill first before fixes can be made

Using a majority-vote procedure on healthcare reform won't work unless the House passes the Senate's healthcare vote first, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Wednesday.

Conrad, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, rejected the notion that the Senate could act first to pass a series of fixes to its original healthcare bill under budget reconciliation rules, saying the House had to act first.

"The only way this works is if the House passes the Senate bill first," Conrad told reporters. "Then a reconciliation bill starts in the House."

House Democratic Leaders have said to date that the Senate would have to act affirmatively in order to fix the bill they passed in December in order for Democrats in the House to muster enough votes to pass that bill.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), for instance, has said that House Democrats don't trust the Senate to act on healthcare.

Conrad said that it'd be impossible for Congress to pass a bill under the budget reconciliation bill, which sidesteps the 60-vote threshold normally needed to end a filibuster and allows lawmakers to pass legislation with a simple majority, if the Congress hadn't passed some sort of legislation to reconcile.

He said any reconciliation effort to fix the Senate bill would also have to have a narrow scope, eschewing changes to the bill on issues like immigration or abortion.

Conrad said as well that President Barack Obama may have to sign into law the Senate bill once it's been passed by the House before a reconciliation bill is in order.

Conrad told reporters he's "assumed" that Obama would have to sign the bill first, but he's never officially inquired into the matter.