House work on healthcare bill, abortion amendment postponed until Wednesday

The House late Tuesday was thrown off its schedule and is now expected to complete work on a healthcare bill Wednesday.

The bill, H.R. 1216, would scale back federal funding for graduate medical student education. One amendment to the bill, from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), would ensure remaining funds are not used for abortion training.

Debate on that amendment turned into a nearly two-hour affair, culminating in a Democratic objection to Republican attempts to move the debate along. That delay prompted Republicans to hold a vote on the two amendments it had fully debated, and delay further debate until later Tuesday evening.

The House ended up voting against two Democratic amendments, one from Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), and one from Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.). Both would have required studies on the effect of the bill on the quantity of primary care physicians in the U.S., and both were rejected in mostly party-line votes.

Just before 7 p.m., the House moved to an hour of debate on H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act. At about 8 p.m., the House is expected to return to a debate on amendments to H.R. 1216, but votes on those amendments -- including the abortion amendment -- are now expected Wednesday.

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