The mark-up of the Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill is currently underway. (You can watch the proceedings on C-Span here.) While much of this morning may be filled with vacuous speech-making by the committee's members, there are over 500 amendments to be voted on over the next few days. Slate has done an excellent job in creating a Google spreadsheet of every (or almost every) amendment to the bill. Check it out as a guide to the process.

I'd also like to flag this important comment by Karen Tumulty at Time's Swampland blog:

One of the worst kept secrets on Capitol Hill is that "mark-ups"--the formal public sessions in which legislation is ostensibly drafted--are not where any real work gets done. Where the real deals get cut, and where the favors get traded back and forth, is in private. The mark-up itself is little more than theater, a chance for everyone to give speeches and then march toward a pre-ordained conclusion.

Whatever you're watching has already been written and planned by the committee members. Lawmakers don't like to take their messy discussions onto the television screens; sort of a side effect of putting video cameras into a room.