Media

This afternoon, Speaker Pelosi hosted President Barack Obama and Taoiseach Brian Cowen of Ireland at the Speaker's annual congressional Saint Patrick's Day Luncheon in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol:

The Office of the Clerk explains the origins of the annual St. Patrick's Day Luncheon:

"We come together to celebrate the feast of Saint Patrick. We honor him for his faith and his good works as he is an inspiration to us."

This morning, the Energy and Commerce Committee released an analysis on the impact of the new health insurance reform legislation on families, small businesses, seniors in Medicare, health care providers, and the uninsured in each of the 435 Congressional districts. For instance, in Minority Leader Boehner's district in Ohio, the legislation will:

Improve coverage for 427,000 residents with health insurance.

Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 161,000 families and 11,600 small businesses to help them afford coverage.

As Congress moves forward with comprehensive health insurance reform, one option for consideration of the legislation is under a rule for reconciliation that would adopt the Senate-passed bill as amended with improvements based on the President's proposal and the will of a majority of Congress. This rule would have to pass the House with a majority vote, but some opponents of reform are objecting to this process in an attempt to kill the bill. Historically, the House -- under both Democrats and Republicans over almost eight decades -- has passed a "deeming" rule many times that "considers as adopted" a provision or bill: