WASHINGTON – The House Committee on Ways and Means voted Thursday in support of a comprehensive economic recovery package that includes healthcare IT measures.

President Barack Obama has argued that no economic recovery is possible without healthcare reform, and he's championing healthcare IT as part of that reform.

The $825 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, drafted by Obama and House Democrats, includes $20 billion for healthcare IT, including $2 billion for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Measures in the bill, included for the first time, would ensure the future of electronic health record products certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology by requiring that federally appropriated funds only be spent on CCHIT-certified products.

The bill includes temporary Medicaid funding assistance for states and a provision to extend healthcare coverage opportunities for unemployed workers already established under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).

The House Ways and Means version of the legislation, H.R. 598, passed by a party-line vote of 24 to 13 and will be combined with components of the recovery package from other House committees into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for consideration by the full House next week.

The House Appropriations Committee passed its version of the package late Wednesday night. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation soon.

House Republicans seem resigned to the fact that they don't have the majority needed to stop the bill or even to force a serious debate. They've argued that the bill is being rammed through too fast. Democrats want a law passed by Feb. 16.

The Republican caucus of the House Budget Committee issued a statement saying the recovery bill "is fast becoming an $825-billion omnibus spending bill for a vast array of programs that may or may not boost economic growth."

"The plan pours taxpayers' money into water projects, the healthcare industry, `green' technology, highway and bridge construction and, of course, government jobs, along with myriad other activities - many of which may be worthy in themselves, but have little to do with `stimulating' the economy," they said.