Prior to convening the meeting, the White House released and 11-page summary that makes changes to the Senate bill that would increase the costs an additional $75 billion. The proposal (highlight) is basically a convergence report - the blending of the House and Senate bills; it was written by the White House. The plan costs $950 billion over 10 years.

Stay tuned for more updates from the summit.

SAF staff attended the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare meeting yesterday to discuss key small business provisions in the health care overhaul legislation. With many provisions that create a disincentive to hire, the coalition is planning a national call-in day.

Ping Pong Begins Next Week on Health Care Reform: With the House back in session and the Senate returning to work on January 20th, the "ping pong" will begin soon. Instead of using a formal conference process where the House and Senate players meet to iron out differences, they will use the "ping-pong" procedure - the formal term is "messages between the Houses." This is procedurally simpler than a conference. After the final version is complete, the Congressional Budget Office will provide a cost estimate before a final vote by Congress.

State of the Union Date Not Set - No one knows for sure when the President will deliver his State of the Union address. It turns out the White House does not choose the date - the Speaker of the House has that prerogative - so Speaker Pelosi will invite the President to come to the Hill. Ideally, health care reform will be signed before the state of the union but the negotiations are in flux. She is still mulling Feb. 2 or Feb. 9th.  So stay tuned.

The Senate has made their first step towards bringing health care legislation to the floor. On Saturday, Nov. 21 the Senate passed a motion by a vote of 60-39 to begin debate on the Health Care bill. Debate will begin when the Senate returns from the Thanksgiving Day recess period on Monday, Nov. 30.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-N.V.) has hinted at the possibility that debate will last three weeks with a vote on final passage occuring before the New Year.

SAF asks that their members to be prepared to contact their Senators when key issues to floral industry members are being debated in the upcoming weeks.

As the health care debate switches over to the Senate, there will be a select few prominent players that you should keep your eye on. You'll hear more about them as the debate gets rolling in the upcoming weeks. Today's Roll Call highlighted some of the names that you need to be familiar with going forward:

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV): Reid is the Majority Leader and in charge of combining the two bills from the Senate Finance and HELP Committees. He will be the central figure as the Senate moves forward and looks for the crucial 60 vote super-majority.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.): Nelson is one of the more conservative Democratic members in the Senate and has voiced his reservations about the inclusion of a public option in a final bill. Securing his vote is a crucial piece of the health care puzzle for Reid.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.): Baucus is the Chairman of the Finance Committee and the authors to one of the health care bills that Reid will have to mold for the full senate debate. Baucus' bill did garner one Republican vote (Snowe) when it passed his committee.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine): Snowe was the only Republican supporter of the Finance Committee bill and will continue to be courted by Democrats looking for a bipartisan agreement. She hasn't guaranteed her vote either way as of yet.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, has helped frame his party's message and for the most part, has kept his caucus together.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.): Schumer will take a majority of the responsilibity if the Senate version contains a public option in the final bill. He has pushed for this inclusion since early 2009.

The ball is now in the Senate's court. E-mail your Senators today and let them know what you demand from the upcoming health care debate.