Some final steps involved in passing health care legislation:
—House Democratic leaders say they will not hold a vote in the House until the health care bill has been posted online for 72 hours. For that clock to start, the Congressional Budget Office must first estimate the cost of the bill.
—The House could vote quickly, in a matter of hours, after the 72 hours expires.
—When the bill gets to the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could immediately invoke the procedure called cloture to cut off debate and set a final vote.
—If he files the cloture motion the day the bill clears the House, a cloture vote could happen one hour after the Senate convenes on the following day; that could be as early as 1:01 a.m. Sixty votes are need to cap debate.
—If the cloture motion prevails with 60 votes, senators would then have 30 hours to debate the health care bill.
—After 30 hours of debate, the Senate would vote on the legislation’s final passage.
—A majority would be required to send the measure to Obama.