House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, isn’t giving up on including a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate in the GOP’s tax reform bill.
Brady told radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday that he is still considering including mandate repeal in the tax bill, which was being marked up by his committee on Tuesday. Brady said he is expecting an updated score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on the impact of including repeal.
“I’ve asked for an updated score so I know exactly what that provision would raise,” he said. “We’re listening to our members here in the House about how they’d react to that. And so I’ve been asked to consider it.”
The individual mandate forces everyone to buy health insurance. A prior score from the CBO back in December estimated repeal would add more than $400 billion in federal revenue over the next decade, since the government wouldn’t have to subsidize as many people under Obamacare. But that would also leave around 14 million more people without insurance.
President Trump called for the mandate repeal to be included, as have numerous House conservatives. But the initial version of the tax reform bill unveiled last week didn’t include mandate repeal, and it wasn’t included in a massive amendment to the bill approved by House Ways & Means on Monday.
The committee is holding a four-day markup on the bill to approve changes and amendments to it. The markup is expected to conclude on Thursday.
Brady has been reluctant to include healthcare in the tax reform package because the Senate has failed to approve Obamacare repeal. It remains unclear whether the Senate tax bill, expected to be out this week, would include mandate repeal.
