With 51 Senators, GOP can eliminate mandate

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Mitt Romney just now called for immediate entire repeal of Obamacare. Even with a GOP House, GOP Senate, and GOP President, that will be hard, because Dems can and will filibuster a bill, and a 60-vote GOP majority is not in the cards any time soon.

But repealing the individual mandate takes only 51 votes (50, if a Republican is the vice president). You see, Senators can’t filibuster a bill passed under “budget reconciliation.” Since Chief Justice John Roberts ruled today that Obama’s individual mandate is a tax, Republicans, it seems to me, could simply lower the tax for not having health insurance down to $0.00, as a matter of budget reconciliation.

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