The Senate Finance Committee isn't the only committee working on health care reform legislation today, as the House Energy & Commerce Committee is also back at work on a bill that was approved in July.  Sort of.

Back when the panel finished work on the last Friday in July, Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman put off work on dozens of amendments that had been introduced, and promised a "supplemental" markup after Labor Day.

So today, he has reconvened the committee, and is allowing consideration of certain amendments that were ready to go back in July.  None of them are earth shaking.

Instead of actually re-opening the text of H.R. 3200, there is a motion to instruct the House Rules Committee to include the text of these additional amendments on health care reform.

Republicans are using this committee meeting to vent their spleens about the health care bill, saying the reaction of Americans in August shows that the bill needs major changes.

This committee meeting probably won't get much news coverage, because the Senate Finance Committee is where the action is - but it is an interesting sidelight on this debate.

GOP lawmakers will try to engage in a bit of legislative mischief by offering amendments that represent what President Obama told Congress two weeks ago in his speech to a Joint Session.

They won't get far, but it will give them an opportunity to raise a little hell.

And it's more interesting than listening to Senate Finance as I type this, because they have spent most of the last hour debating whether or not to have a cost estimate on the bill by the time a final vote is held.