The conservative Club for Growth on Wednesday voiced support for an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz to the Republican healthcare plan that would provide some flexibility for insurers, while urging the Senate to repeal Obamacare’s tax on wealthy people.
The Texas Republican’s amendment on health insurance, supported by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, would allow insurers to sell plans that do not meet a broad array of medical coverage requirements under Obamacare, as long as they sell one that does. The amendment is being scored by the Congressional Budget Office, which will project the impact it would have on premiums and on the number of people who could be uninsured as a result.
“At a bare minimum, Congress should not stand in the way of allowing Americans who want to opt out of Obamacare to do so,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said. “And that’s why it’s so important that the new Senate Obamacare repeal bill include the Lee-Cruz Consumer Freedom Option, which would allow individuals to opt out of Obamacare’s costly regulations.”
Other Senate Republicans have suggested keeping Obamacare’s tax on wealthy individuals, which is a 3.8 percent tax on investments for people making more than $250,000 a year. The current GOP healthcare bill would eliminate the tax, alongside most of the other Obamacare taxes, but has opened up Republicans to attacks from activists and Democrats for supporting a tax break for millionaires.
The Club for Growth discouraged keeping the tax, saying it would prevent economic growth.
“A step in the wrong direction — more like a trip — would be for the GOP to keep the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Investment Tax on capital gains and dividends,” McIntosh said. “This tax, just like any tax increase, is an anathema to conservatives as it suppresses economic growth and opportunity throughout our nation. Under no circumstances should the NIIT be included in any forthcoming Republican ‘repeal’ bill.”
Senate Republicans have struggled to arrive at a consensus on a healthcare bill, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Centrist factions of the party are concerned about cuts to Medicaid and projections that show 22 million more people would be uninsured by 2026, while conservatives say the bill does not do enough to reduce premiums and to repeal Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., delayed a pre-Fourth of July vote on the bill after it became clear that he did not have adequate support for passage.
The Club for Growth encouraged Republicans to pass a stand-alone repeal bill if they cannot reach a consensus on their healthcare bill. Though Republicans lack the majority to pass a bill that would fully repeal the law, they could repeal Obamacare’s taxes and regulations, similar to a bill Republicans sent to former President Barack Obama in 2015, which he vetoed. The bill would have repealed the unpopular individual mandate that requires people buy insurance or pay a fine.
President Trump proposed that approach last week and was supported by more conservative senators. Such a move, however, likely would concern centrists who already are worried that the Better Care Reconciliation Act goes too far.
The group reminded Republicans that they ran campaigns on promises to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“The American people are tired of a Congress that overpromises and underdelivers,” McIntosh said. “That wouldn’t cut it in any other workplace, and it shouldn’t fly in Congress, either. With 13 legislative days left between now and Labor Day, the American people’s message to Congress couldn’t be clearer: they’ve got to get the job done.”
