Then don’t they really need two committee votes? One for the “conceptual” version and a second one for the “legalese”?
No, only one from my understanding. And the Finance Committee has always just done the “conceptual” version.
The Hill’s story makes that fairly clear:
Unlike most congressional committees, the Finance panel does not take up technical legislative language when it writes a bill. Instead, the committee — which has jurisdiction over healthcare, taxes and a host of other issues — votes on so-called conceptual language, which is later converted into the official bill text.
Republicans don’t dispute that this is true. But that want to make an exception and insist that the Finance Committee not act until it has the complete legislative text and a full budget estimate. It’s merely in the spirit of President Barack Obama’s promises of transparent government, offered Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
“We’ve never, ever, ever, ever done that in this committee,” Baucus protested.
Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that this bill is special. “I don’t consider this inordinate,” Grassley said, though it’s hard to imagine him embracing the idea during the years he chaired the committee.