Senate leaders are tentatively planning a vote to repeal big parts of Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood the week after members return from their Thanksgiving break.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is hoping to bring the controversial legislation to the floor during the first week of December, although that plan could change if he’s unable to find the 51 votes necessary to pass it, according to Capitol Hill lobbyists.
The bill is the Republicans’ best shot at getting a repeal of Affordable Care Act to President Obama’s desk, since passing it under special budgeting rules requires just a simple majority in the Senate instead of the usual 60 votes.
Even so, Obama is certain to veto the legislation, making the bill mostly an opportunity for Republicans to remind voters of their ongoing frustrations with the law. They’ve also attached a provision blocking Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood centers for one year.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2575923
On Tuesday, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that to qualify for the budget reconciliation process under the so-called “Bryd rule,” the bill can’t get rid of the law’s mandates for individuals to buy insurance and employers to provide it.
Republicans will add those parts back in with a substitute amendment, said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart. He also said a vote on the bill hasn’t been officially scheduled.
“When the Senate begins debate on the Obamacare repeal bill, there will be a substitute amendment that preserves the provisions of the House-passed bill, while ensuring that the underlying bill complies with rules that apply only in the Senate,” Stewart said.
Anti-abortion groups are pleased the parliamentarian also ruled the provision defunding Planned Parenthood can remain in the bill, as there was a question of whether it was directly enough related to decreasing the deficit, a requirement of the Bryd rule.
There’s still been some talk on Capitol Hill of removing that provision, under concerns that it might cause a few Republicans in favor of abortion rights to oppose the underlying bill. The Family Research Council and other anti-abortion groups are lobbying lawmakers including Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois to support it.
Nonetheless, Family Research Council lobbyist David Christensen said he’s not worried McConnell will remove the provision. “I have every reason to believe they’re going to proceed with the bill that would take out funding for Planned Parenthood,” he told the Washington Examiner.
The House passed the reconciliation bill last month, but the process has been more uncertain in the Senate, since Republicans have to use the special rules because they don’t have a 60-vote majority.
It’s not clear whether they will even even be able to gain the 51 votes needed. Besides the moderate Republicans who might oppose it for the Planned Parenthood provision, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah have indicated they likely will likely oppose the bill because it doesn’t repeal all of Obamacare, a major complaint levied by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“They’ve got problems on the right and left,” one healthcare lobbyist told the Examiner. “Hard to see how they get to 51.”
But Republican leaders want to pass the bill to force Obama to veto a bill that would ditch some of the law’s more unpopular parts, including its taxes on high-cost health plans and its mandates to get insurance.
