House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday praised a new plan in the Senate to gut Obamacare.
Ryan tweeted support for the plan by four Republican senators that would give states Obamacare funding in the form of block grants. The senators have described the bill as the last chance before a Sept. 30 deadline to get legislation repealing Obamacare through the Senate with only 51 votes.
“I appreciate Senators [Lindsey] Graham and [Bill] Cassidy continuing to work on a plan to pass the Senate,” Ryan tweeted. “I’ll take federalism over Obamacare any day.”
I appreciate Senators Graham and Cassidy continuing to work on a plan to pass the Senate. I’ll take federalism over Obamacare any day.
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) September 15, 2017
Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Dean Heller of Nevada are also co-sponsors of the bill.
Ryan may not have any choice but to like the bill if he wants to tackle Obamacare.
Republicans are using a pathway called reconciliation that lets them pass a bill by only 51 votes in the Senate instead of the 60 usually needed to break a filibuster. But the reconciliation language expires at the end of the month, giving them only about two weeks to pass it.
If the Senate passes the bill before the deadline expires, the House can take it up at any time. However, the House would not be able to make any amendments or changes to the bill. If the House did make changes, the bill would go back to the Senate and it wouldn’t be able to pass through reconciliation. That means the Senate would have to get 60 votes to pass it, a virtual impossibility with all Democrats likely to oppose the measure.
