The Republican effort to repeal Obamacare has hit one snag after another in the last few months. When the House passed its version of a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Senate concluded it was so extreme that it simply blew the bill up and started over. However, the Senate bill imploded amid opposition from both sides of the spectrum. Democrats and moderate Republicans thought it was too extreme, while conservative Republicans thought it didn’t go far enough.
That hasn’t stopped Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from trying again. He has hinted that the Senate could consider another attempt to repeal Obamacare as early as this coming Tuesday. But that effort may have run into trouble from an unexpected quarter–the rules of the Senate.
The Republicans are trying to jam a repeal through using the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority of 51 votes to proceed to a final vote, rather than the 60 votes required for most other business. Late Friday, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that a number of provisions in the TrumpMcConnellCare bill violate the Byrd Rule, a provision of Senate rules that bars irrelevant or extraneous matters in a reconciliation deal.
Now why does this matter? Well, any provision that doesn’t pass Byrd Rule muster can be challenged by any senator who objects to their presence in the bill–meaning that they would be subject to the 60-vote threshold. Given that the Senate Democrats are united in their opposition to the bill, it’s a near certainty that any provisions flagged by MacDonough will indeed be challenged–and that those provisions likely won’t pass once cut out of the bill.
Two of those provisions are critical to winning support from conservatives in both the House and Senate. One would yank all funding from Planned Parenthood, while another would bar abortion coverage in insurance plans purchased on the health care marketplace. When House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows learned about the ruling, he told HuffPost that if Planned Parenthood still gets even a penny under TrumpMcConnellCare, it will make passage in the House “almost impossible.”
Bernie Sander, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, got wind of MacDonough’s findings just before the close of business on Friday. Read a summary here. MacDonough also flagged a provision that requires people to wait six months after their insurance lapses before buying a new plan.
She also objected to a change in the way New York state funds Medicaid. In hopes of winning over skeptical Republican congressmen from upstate New York, the Senate bill retained a provision in the House bill that limited New York’s ability to require counties outside New York City to contribute to Medicaid–the so-called “Buffalo Bailout.” According to Politico, MacDonough objected to this provision for the same reason that she objected to the defunding of Planned Parenthood–it targeted a specific group. The Senate Budget Democrats believe this ruling could potentially endanger state-specific provisions for Alaska (the “Polar Payoff”), Florida (the “Sunshine Sellout”), and Louisiana (the “Bayou Bailout”).
Sanders took to Twitter to declare that MacDonough’s decision was yet more proof of what Democrats have been saying all along–TrumpMcConnellCare is a loser.
The parliamentarian’s decision today proves once again that the process Republicans have undertaken to repeal the ACA is a disaster.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 21, 2017
MacDonough’s announcement has the potential to put the brakes on the Republican effort to ram Obamacare repeal through without much debate or discussion. A day earlier, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn claimed that Obamacare was cratering so rapidly that “we don’t have the luxury” of learning what the GOP planned to do.
Hogwash, says Sanders.
No Republican or Democrat knows what will be in the "health care" bill they'll vote on Tuesday. How crazy, insulting & undemocratic is that? https://t.co/PoJY57Q8s8
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 22, 2017
I’d add another description–“incompetent.” Remember, after spending eight years bleating and screeting about repealing Obamacare, the Republicans didn’t really put together a plan to repeal and/or replace it because almost none of them actually expected Trump to win. In other words–they weren’t prepared to actually govern.
MacDonough usually stays out of the limelight; she never speaks in public except to address participants in the Senate Youth Program. However, her ruling may have changed the entire complexion of the health care debate. It may have also forced McConnell to come to his senses and realize his pipe dream of repealing Obamacare is going nowhere.
(featured image courtesy United States Senate, part of public domain)
