House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has tentatively scheduled a vote for the fiscal year 2006 budget reconciliation bill (S 1932) on Feb. 1, CongressDaily reports (Cohn, CongressDaily, 1/11). The Senate on Dec. 21, 2005, voted 51-50 to approve the legislation, which includes $39.7 billion in spending reductions, with $6.4 billion in net savings from Medicare and about $4.8 billion in net savings from Medicaid over five years. The House on Dec. 19, 2005, voted 212-206 to approve the bill, but procedural moves in the Senate require the House to vote on the bill a second time before the legislation can move to President Bush for consideration (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/9). According to CongressDaily, House Republicans "expect to narrowly approve the bill again, boosted by President Bush's State of the Union speech the night before." AARP and the Emergency Campaign for America's Priorities, an organization that represents unions, student groups and advocates for low-income individuals, hope to convince moderate Republicans to vote against the bill. AARP has criticized new Medicaid asset-transfer rules included in the legislation. ECAP and other groups have circulated a "worst provisions fact sheet," which includes a provision that would require Medicaid applicants to provide passports or birth certificates to qualify for coverage (CongressDaily, 1/11).