Perhaps it’s fitting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) co-hosted a luncheon at the Capitol this week to honor Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Bartholomew leads the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church split from the Roman Catholic Church during The Great Schism of 1054. It’s one of the greatest divides in religious history.

House Democrats want to debate and pass their massive health care reform bill this weekend. And the rifts between House Democrats are so deep that this could be called The Great Schism of 2009.

Republicans spent most of Thursday excoriating the health care bill on the West Front of the Capitol. At least they were discussing health care policy. That’s because Democrats were talking about everything but health care in an effort to lug the behemoth legislation across the finish line. The off-stage discussions focused on the fissures that plague both political parties: abortion and immigration. And that’s to say nothing of a little-known issue involving something called “black liquor.”

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says the House is headed for a debate and vote on the 1,990-page health care reform by “either Friday or Saturday.”

Hoyer said that it was his intention to “have that bill on the floor later this week.” He also signaled that he would give Republicans a chance to offer their alternative health care reform bill as an amendment to the measure.

The House Democratic leadership team is now drilling down on what’s called a “manager’s amendment.” A manager’s amendment contains the final tweaks and alterations to legislation before it hits the House floor. Hoyer said he was “hopeful” the manager’s amendment would be ready by the end of the day. The release of the manager’s amendment would then trigger a clock that would count down to the earliest time Democrats could put the health care bill on the floor.

House Democrats have vowed to wait 72 hours between posting of manager’s amendment online and the launch of the health care debate.

“We’re still working on it,” Hoyer said of the manager’s amendment. “We’re making sure the i’s are dotted the t’s are crossed.”

One of the most nettlesome issues facing Democrats revolves around an abortion dispute. Some moderate, anti-abortion lawmakers want certain assurances that health care dollars, nor health care plans purchased with federal subsidies, could be used to pay for abortions. It’s currently against federal law to pay for most abortions with federal money.

House sources tell FOX that Democrats could allay fears about abortion during a procedural vote that serves as a gateway to move the health care bill to the House floor. Some anti-abortion Democrats have threatened to vote against that procedural maneuver. A nay vote could keep the health care bill off the floor unless the demands of the anti-abortion lawmakers are met.

Abortion remains one of the most-vexing questions for House Democrats as they try to pass a health care reform package later this week.

But there are mixed signals about whether the absence of a key lawmaker involved in the abortion talks could hamper efforts to forge a compromise on the issue.

FOX has learned that Elaine Olsen, the mother-in-law of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) passed away unexpectedly Sunday in Escanaba, MI. Stupak signaled last week that unless the abortion impasse was bridged, he had enough votes to blow up the bill. Stupak and other Democrats who oppose abortion are calling for a “vote against using public funds for abortions.

Stupak is not expected to be in Washington this week.

A senior House leadership aide who didn’t wish to be identified indicated that Stupak’s absence wouldn’t hurt talks on the abortion issue.

But another key Democrat involved in the abortion discussions saw it differently. When asked if Stupak’s unavailability could impact the issue, the lawmaker responded “Yeah. Big time.”

House Democrats are now huddled behind closed doors working out what’s called a “manager’s amendment” to the 1,990-page health care reform bill. The manager’s amendment is the final alterations that are made to legislation before it hits the House floor.

When asked by reporters whether it was essential to solve the abortion question before introducing the manager’s amendment, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) responded “not necessarily.”

Van Hollen serves as special assistant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and is intimately involved in all health care conversations. Van Hollen told reporters that the leadership could move ahead with the manager’s amendment and “work (abortion) out later.”

But others differed with Van Hollen.

“Obviously (abortion) has to be worked out before they pass the bill,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).

It’s illegal to use federal money to pay for abortions except in rare instances. Over the summer, Democratic leaders favored a provision that allowed people to use government money to purchase private health plans that could pay for abortions. But policyholders would have to use private money to pay for the actual procedure.

Still, Stupak and others argued that federal dollars shouldn’t be used at all to buy coverage that could potentially cover abortions.

Senior House sources indicate to FOX that the manager’s amendment is essentially complete and just needs to be written in parliamentary language. House leaders are pledging to post this final addendum to the health care bill online for three days before advancing the health care bill on the floor.

A throng of reporters accosted Pelosi outside her office Tuesday night, asking the speaker when she’d introduce the manager’s amendment.

“We’ll let you know when we’re ready to let you know,” Pelosi said cryptically.

House Democrats are aiming to bring their massive, 1,990-page health care reform bill to the floor later this week for a debate and vote. 

And House Republicans hope that Democrats will allow them to introduce and debate their own bill as well.

"We’re hopeful Speaker Pelosi will allow us a substitute," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

A "substitute" is an alternative version of a bill. Typically, the minority party is allowed to offer a completely different rendition of a bill. A measure offered as a substitute strikes the text of the existing bill and replaces it with the newer version.

Boehner says the Congressional Budget Office is currently analyzing the price tag of the Republican alternative alternative. A senior House Republican aide tells FOX that the GOP will probably make its bill public when Democrats introduce what’s called a "manager’s amendment" to their underlying legislation. A manager’s amendment is the final step of tweaking a measure that’s headed toward debate. Democrats have assured Republicans that they will allow their manager’s amendment to be posted online for three days before bringing the health care reform bill to the floor. The Republican aide indicates that the GOP will probably do the same, regardless as to whether they have a final cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

Boehner was thin on details about the Republican bill. But his spokesman Kevin Smith said indicated that the Republican effort "will cover millions more Americans" than the Democrats’ plan.

Boehner also said that Republicans were orchestrating attacks on Democrats from swing districts who could be cajoled to vote for the health care reform legislation. He said this part of an effort to defeat the legislation.

"Our goal is to make this as difficult as possible for them to vote for it," Boehner said. "I would hope their constituents would make their point of view well known."

Boehner also claims that the Democratic bill could result in the creation of more than 100 bureaucracies and agencies. He noted that Democrats didn’t write a bill that would immediately ask the government to run the nation’s health care system. But he cautioned that

this legislation could allow that to happen in the future.

"All of the infrastructure is there," Boehner said. "The left wants to have single-payer, government-run health care."

A senior Democrat familiar with the health care bill who didn’t wish to be identified dismissed Boehner’s assertion. The Democrat said that the programs and projects mentioned in the health care package aren’t new and just "sensible ways to test new policies," before they are implemented.

"These offices run smoother and work better by serving as an advocate for consumers and reduce waste, fraud and abuse," the Democrat said.

I always thought I made out pretty well on Christmas morning. Over the years I scored box seats to Reds-Dodgers games when they were the hottest ticket in town, a motorized yard cart with the “Batman” insignia painted on the front (hence making it the “Batmobile”), Matchbox cars, a Tyco train set and various other diversions.

But somehow, Kris Kringle never quite brought me everything I wanted.

How could he possibly have forgotten? I told him right there as I sat on his lap at the mall. I even watched his elves take copious notes of my requests.

Years later, I’ve finally figured out what I needed as a seven-year-old to make my Christmas morning complete.

I needed a “manager’s amendment.”

In Congress, the manager’s amendment is a final package of alterations made to a bill, right before it hits the House floor. It’s a series of tweaks and additions, designed to prep the bill for debate. The manager’s amendment usually fixes problem areas. But it’s also crafted in such a way to court the support of lawmakers who are skeptical about the legislation. This is called the Goldilocks Effect. Making sure the bill isn’t too hot or too cold. But just right. 

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It’s the time of year when Halloween thrill-seekers stalk graveyards in search of goblins and phantasms.

I stalked a cemetery too, this week. For creatures even scarier than ghosts and ghouls.

I was looking for politicians.

Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC was Arlington National Cemetery long before Arlington National Cemetery ever existed. It’s the final resting place for 19 senators and 71 U.S. representatives. They’re joined by a vice president, a world-renowned band leader, a legendary FBI director, an attorney general, the first woman to seek the presidency and a man who was the original Washington insider. And that’s to say nothing of the dozens of markers memorializing America’s deceased political elite.

Tourists may flock to Arlington National Cemetery to spy the graves of the Kennedys and watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. But few journey to the banks of the Anacostia River to pay their respects to America’s first leaders at Congressional Cemetery.

“Every city has old cemeteries,” said Congressional Cemetery Board Chairman Patrick Crowley. “But this cemetery honors the founders of the nation.”

I asked Crowley what the qualifications were for interment. There’s just one.

“Death,” he said.

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The House's health care reform bill runs 1,990 pages and. It's filled with gullies and eddies of arcane, cryptic language that are hard to understand. But one of the chief architects of the measure wants to be clear about one provision: "No government funds will be used to pay for illegal immigrants to get health care coverage," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

Waxman points out that the Democrats’ health care reform bill unveiled Thursday contains a “verification status” check if anyone is to receive any federal health care subsides. But there’s a distinction between illegal immigrants being eligible for government-run components of the health care legislation versus what they would be permitted to purchase from private insurance providers.

“Yes,” exclaimed Waxman when a reporter asked the California Democrat if he personally thought illegal immigrants should be permitted to purchase health insurance. “Can they buy a car? They’re people doing business in the U.S.”

Coverage for illegal immigrants is one of the most vexing questions in the health care reform debate . But from Waxman’s vantage point, it’s alright for illegal immigrants to participate in the proposed health care reform regime, so long as their care isn’t subsidized.

“Should an illegal immigrant be allowed to drive down the Dulles Toll Road, paid for by federal dollars?” Waxman asked, referring to a major highway that links the nation’s capital with Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia. “Should illegal immigrants be allowed to buy health insurance from a private insurance company?”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says he expects the House of Representatives to vote on the health care reform bill no earlier than Thursday, November 5.

A plume of white smoke is sure to emanate from Capitol Hill this morning.

For House Democrats are unveiling their final health care reform bill during a grand ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.

For months, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) regaled the Congressional press corps with platitudes and trifle that the health care legislation was “on schedule” or “on track.” She frequently seasoned this rhetoric with exclamations that the work was “exciting” and “historic.”

And on the day before Pelosi and the Democratic brain trust prepared to roll out the much-anticipated health care package, the speaker never spoke.

In fact, few Democrats said much of anything. And the big rollout was never even made official until the leadership blasted out an announcement via email at 7:36 pm Wednesday night.

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A senior intelligence official conceded Tuesday that the intelligence community has failed to fully inform Congress about some of its spying activities.

Congress is probing what some Democratic lawmakers argue are failures by the Bush administration's intelligence services to inform Congress what they’re doing.

Robert Litt is chief counsel for the Director of National Intelligence. He testified before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that the spies didn't tell Congress about a small number of operations. But Litt says the intelligence services have now corrected those omissions and is now informing Congress of its espionage.

Over the summer, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) asked all intelligence services to study and improve the systems they used to tell Congress about what they're doing. 

The ODNI says there were a some minor instances where they found Congress wasn't properly acquainted with various actions. Lawmakers were later brought up to speed.

The law requires the intelligence services to brief Congress about certain types of missions it undertakes.

“We have an obligation to get you the information that you need to provide oversight.  And the scope of what we provide you needs to be adequate to permit you to provide oversight of the intelligence community,” Litt said.

Litt did not discuss what sorts of activities the intelligence services failed to disclose to lawmakers or which agencies were not thorough in briefing Congress.

“I think that when some of the agencies went back and looked at their records, they found a couple of matters where they had determined not to brief. And they relooked at it and decided probably ought to be briefed,” Litt said. “But those were a few isolated instances.” 

The House Intelligence Committee launched a probe of the intelligence community over the summer after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) exclaimed at a contentious May press conference that the CIA "lied" to her about using advanced interrogation techniques on detainees.

Democrats on the House Intelligence panel say there as many as five episodes where Congress was kept in the dark. CIA Director Leon Panetta told the committee in June that it failed to alert Congress about operations targeting al Qaeda.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told FOX that “it is the policy of the Central Intelligence Agency to be clear and candid with the United States Congress. Director Panetta has made a relationship of trust, confidence, and respect a top priority."

Some Republicans on the Intelligence Committee, including ranking member Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), argue that the House inquiry is politically motivated and is an effort to shield Pelosi from criticism after her allegation that the CIA failed to tell her the truth.

Forty is the new 30.

And on Capitol Hill, “surveying” is the new “whipping.”

The House Democratic leadership this week launched its first official effort to poll where lawmakers stand on the massive health care reform bill. The process provides leaders a metric to gauge whether they the votes to pass the plan. It also lets them know where there are potential problems so they can tweak the legislation.

A senior House Democratic leadership aide indicates that this nose count is not a formal “whip.” Instead, it’s just a “survey.”

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is one of the chief architects of the health care reform legislation. He characterized the count as a cordial exercise.

“You hold out what the proposal is and you say ‘Are you there? Can we count on you?’” Waxman said. “And when they say they are there, we count on them.”

But this process is not always as pleasant as Waxman described.

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