Republicans face a “murky” path forward on healthcare legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Monday.
Having failed before the August recess to pass legislation repealing or altering Obamacare, “the way forward now is somewhat murky,” McConnell said at a Chamber of Commerce event in Louisville.
One possibility would be for the Senate to take up legislation meant to stabilize the Obamacare individual insurance markets, which McConnell described as “collapsing.” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee has proposed working with Democrats on a plan to continue funding Obamacare payments to insurers, known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies, as a way of helping to stabilize markets. Republicans sued former President Barack Obama in 2014 for making the payments without congressional authorization.
McConnell told the audience Monday that he would wait to see the legislation that Alexander comes up with, but cautioned that the idea of providing further subsidies to insurance companies absent broader reforms was “pretty controversial.”
Before leaving Washington for recess in August, McConnell indicated that the Senate would leave behind its campaign to replace Obamacare and turn to tax reform.
Nevertheless, one version of legislation to change Obamacare ended up just one vote shy of passage, and McConnell could bring another bill up at any time.
When Congress returns in September, it will face the pressing business of raising the federal debt ceiling and passing legislation to fund the government.
