Republicans send Obamacare individual mandate repeal to conference

The Republican-controlled Senate early Saturday advanced a tax bill that would topple a controversial provision in Obamacare after repeated failed efforts earlier this year to do so through healthcare legislation.

The move represents progress in the GOP’s eight-year-plus effort to chip away Obamacare since Democrats passed it along party lines. The individual mandate, the portion slated for repeal, is one of the most unpopular portions of Obamacare. Proponents insist the mandate is key to making the law work, but opponents either dismiss it as ineffective or slam as an example of federal overreach.