主题：【编辑】美国经济周报十一月（一） -- 南方有嘉木

美参议院金融委员会通过8290亿美元医改法案

　美国参议院金融委员会(Senate Finance Committee)于13日通过了8,290亿美元的医改法案，预计该方案将使享受医疗保险的人口增加2,900万人；此举使该法案向在众议院的讨论又迈进了一步。

　　金融委员会的最终投票结果是14票赞成，9票反对；其中仅有一名共和党议员斯诺(Olympia Snowe)投了赞成票。

　　美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)对斯诺支持该法案表示赞扬。

　　该法案计划通过对中低收入人群采取抵税措施以及扩大医疗补助(Medicaid)计划将更多的美国人纳入保险范围之内。

　　白宫发言人吉布斯(Robert Gibbs)在新闻发布会上表示对医改法案前景持乐观看法，称总统相信法案会在2009年年内签署。

尽管如此，根据美国国会预算办公室(CBO)的数据，该法案仍无法将2,500万名美国人纳入医保范围，这部分人在美国总人口中的比例为6%。

Each bill goes through several stages in each house. The first stage involves consideration by a committee. Most legislation is considered by standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a particular subject matter, such as Agriculture or Appropriations. The House has twenty standing committees; the Senate has sixteen. In some cases, bills may be sent to select committees, which tend to have more narrow jurisdictions than standing committees. Each standing and select committee is led by a chair (who belongs to the majority party) and a ranking member (who belongs to the minority party). Committees are permitted to hold hearings and collect evidence when considering bills. They may also amend the bill, but the full house holds the power to accept or reject committee amendments. After considering and debating a measure, the committee votes on whether it wishes to report the measure to the full house.

If reported by the committee, the bill reaches the floor of the full house. The house may debate and amend the bill; the precise procedures used by the House of Representatives and the Senate differ. A final vote on the bill follows.

Once a bill is approved by one house, it is sent to the other, which may pass, reject, or amend it. In order for the bill to become law, both houses must agree to identical versions of the bill. If the second house amends the bill, then the differences between the two versions must be reconciled in a conference committee, an ad hoc committee that includes both senators and representatives. In many cases, conference committees have introduced substantial changes to bills and added unrequested spending, significantly departing from both the House and Senate versions. President Ronald Reagan once quipped, "If an orange and an apple went into conference consultations, it might come out a pear."[23] If both houses agree to the version reported by the conference committee, the bill passes; otherwise, it fails.

After passage by both houses, a bill is submitted to the President. The President may choose to sign the bill, thereby making it law. The President may also choose to veto the bill, returning it to Congress with his objections. In such a case, the bill only becomes law if each house of Congress votes to override the veto with a two-thirds majority. Finally, the President may choose to take no action, neither signing nor vetoing the bill. In such a case, the Constitution states that the bill automatically becomes law after ten days, excluding Sundays. However, if Congress adjourns (ends a legislative session) during the ten day period, then the bill does not become law. Thus, the President may veto legislation passed at the end of a congressional session simply by ignoring it; the maneuver is known as a pocket veto, and cannot be overridden by the adjourned Congress.

According to Autodata Corp., the seasonally adjusted annual rate of U.S. auto sales hit 10.46 million vehicles last month, topping the 10.2 million analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast.

The latest numbers lagged the 14.1 million sales peak in August, which was heavily skewed by federal "cash for clunkers" rebates. However, excluding the summertime clunkers boost, this latest batch of sales is the best since October 2008, when it hit 10.8 million.

October saw the first year-to-year sales increase -- excluding the Cash for Clunkers months this summer -- in two years. Sales of 837,800 vehicles during the month translated into a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Sales rate of 10.43 million units - about the same number that the consensus of industry watchers is still predicting for total actual sales volume for all of calendar 2008. (The SAAR last October was 10.78 million.)