A question over the fate of black lung benefits in the Republican plan to replace Obamacare sparked a fight in the House during a marathon markup session Wednesday.
Lawmakers in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been holding a markup session on their section of the American Health Care Act all day. The bill seeks to repeal Obamacare and partially replace it.
Democrats plan to offer more than 100 amendments to the bill, and Republicans are angry that they haven’t presented the measures yet. Democrats tried several tactics to delay the proceedings, including forcing the full reading of the committee’s 66-page portion of the bill.
Democrats on the House floor also are seeking to hold multiple votes on motions to adjourn the House in another gambit to delay the proceedings. Democrats charge that the markups should be delayed at least until a score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, expected early next week, arrives.
With the delay as a backdrop, Republicans were showing signs of frustration.
Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., asked committee staff if anything in the plan would hurt benefits to coal miners who have black lung disease, saying that he heard news reports that the bill would harm those benefits.
Staff responded that it did not.
“Could it be in one of these mysterious amendments that are still to be addressed,” McKinley said, referring to the Democratic amendments to the bill.
“You think maybe the Democrats have an amendment that does that?” asked Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. “This could be easily resolved if the Democrats would just make their amendments available for the public to see.”
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said that none of the amendments would harm the black lung benefits.
Black lung benefits are given under federal law to coal miners who come down with the disease.
