President Trump should use healthcare subsidies for Congress as leverage over lawmakers in Obamacare repeal talks, according to Florida Republican.
“If you make them live under Obamacare, my guess is that they will vote to quickly repeal Obamacare,” Rep. Ron DeSantis said Thursday on the House floor.
That suggestion revived a Republican attack on a regulation promulgated under former President Obama that allowed members of Congress and their staff to receive healthcare subsidies. The rule survived attacks by several lawmakers, but DeSantis argued Trump can use it to prod senators hesitant to get behind a healthcare bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The best way to restart the Obamacare repeal process is simple: make Congress live under it,” DeSantis said. “The president can make this happen.”
McConnell’s initial effort to repeal and replace Obamacare failed Monday when Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran joined two other Republicans in announcing they would join Democrats in voting to block debate on the bill.
McConnell’s team has been trying to navigate the concerns of conservative lawmakers who want a more comprehensive repeal of Obamacare, while some centrist Republicans worry the GOP legislation reverses too much of the healthcare law.
“Obamacare included a provision dropping the congressional health plans for members of Congress and diverting members to the Obamacare exchanges where they would have to pay their own premiums,” DeSantis said. “Yet an Obama administration regulation gutted this provision and provided lucrative taxpayer subsides for members, thereby creating an illegal exemption for Congress under Obamacare. Mr. President, cancel this regulatory exception.”
