McConnell: Senate GOP plans amendments, points of order against health bill

Republican senators plan a series of amendments and parliamentary challenges to health reform legislation, their leader said Sunday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that while he would not predict what fate a measure making a series of changes to the health bill might face in the Senate, he again raised the possibility that it might be sent back to the House for another vote.

"We'll have all kinds of amendments on the substance. And then of course, there are special rules that apply once of these reconciliation bills that will be tested in the Senate," McConnell said during an appearance on CBS. "There will be various rulings by the parliamentarian on whether things meet the so-called Byrd rule, and those will be tested in votes as well."

The House is expected to vote to pass the Senate's healthcare bill today, along with a reconciliation bill that would make a series of changes to that legislation. The bulk of healthcare would become law, and senators would be taking up a smaller, more targeted piece of legislation that would change some tax rates in the original legislation, and nix some special deals contained in the original Senate health bill.

McConnell defended Republicans' plans, arguing that they were not the "obstructionism" of which Democrats have accused the GOP in recent months.

"It's not a question of dragging it out," he said. "It's a question of making sure the American people know what's in it."