The GOP’s long-sought bid to dismantle Obamacare has hit another snag in the Senate, flustering House Republicans who thought they’d figured out a way to get a bill to President Obama’s desk without having to face a Democratic filibuster.
The bill is doomed no matter what — Mr. Obama has vowed a veto, and there aren’t enough votes in either chamber to overturn him — but just getting a bill to the White House would be the furthest Republicans have gotten in their five-year push to end the Affordable Care Act. Democrats have blocked or filibustered every previous attempt.
GOP leaders thought they’d hit on a solution in using a fast-track tool, which allows them to avoid a filibuster if the matter is related to the budget. But the Senate’s parliamentarian has said the changes to Obamacare’s mandates are too incidental to the budget to be allowed under the tool, known on Capitol Hill as “reconciliation,” a ruling that Democrats say dooms the repeal effort.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted Republicans will find a way forward, and will vote on a bill that strips money from Planned Parenthood as part of an assault on Obamacare. The bill as sent over from the House repeals the Affordable Care Act’s mandate for most Americans to hold health insurance or pay a tax penalty, while scrapping unpopular taxes on medical device sales and generous health care plans.
“We’ll be moving to that after Thanksgiving,” he said after the Senate’s weekly party luncheons.
The entire process has left the House GOP flummoxed.
They thought they’d written a bill that would get through the complex Senate rules, but now have been informed that might not be the case.
“There isn’t any way to know. That’s the problem with the process,” said House Budget Chairman Tom Price, the Georgia Republican who wrote the House’s bill.
He said the budget rules themselves may have to be changed to make the process more transparent.
Under the current system the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, rules on what’s in bounds and what’s disallowed under budget reconciliation rules.
Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies congressional procedure, said it’s important to remember that the parliamentarian gives advice in response to Senate leaders’ questions and not grand rulings.
“I think that adds to the opaqueness here,” she said. “There’s nothing that requires release of parliamentarian advice or guidance.”
But Democrats last week did release details of Ms. MacDonough’s early thoughts, saying she had eviscerated GOP plans.
Mr. McConnell’s spokesman, Donald Stewart, has said the Senate is working on a substitute bill that preserves the provisions of the House-passed bill while making sure it complies with Senate-specific rules.
Mr. McConnell, however, is facing pressure from his right flank too.
Republican presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, as well as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, say the bill reneges on vows to pursue full repeal of Obamacare, while at least three GOP members have signaled they’re on the fence about defunding Planned Parenthood. If all six senators vote against the bill, it won’t achieve even the bare majority needed under reconciliation.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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