They promised it on the 2014 campaign trail, but the new Republican majority in Congress is facing the reality of trying to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, and they’re not sure yet how to do it.
The House this week will take a definitive, but futile, first step.
They’ll vote to fully repeal Obamacare, an exercise that the GOP-led House has conducted a half-dozen times since the law passed.
This week’s vote will carry much more significance, however, because House lawmakers will send the legislation to a Senate that is under Republican control for the first time in 8 years.
“It’s a promise to the American people from the last election that we would make every attempt to repeal it,” Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., told the Washington Examiner. “We intend to keep our promise.”
But the legislation has little chance of passing the Senate, where Democrats control enough votes to block it with a filibuster. If it did defy the odds and pass the House, Obama would veto the bill anyway.
Republicans know the repeal legislation isn’t ever going to become law.
“We’re just getting it out of the way,” one GOP aide told the Examiner when asked about the repeal vote.
So Republicans are pondering their next step on Obamacare and it includes two different paths: Repealing the law through a procedural maneuver that would muscle past Democratic opposition, or trying to strike down unpopular pieces of Obamacare with legislation that can win Democratic support and put pressure on Obama to sign into law.
“I’m on board with repeal and replace,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told the Examiner. “We are trying to figure out what’s the best strategy to do do that.”
Conservatives in both the House and Senate are eager to use a procedural maneuver, known as budget reconciliation, which would allow the Senate to pass legislation repealing Obamacare with just 51 votes, not the typical 60 votes.
Senate Democrats used the procedure to pass the healthcare law in 2010 because they lacked the 60 votes needed to thwart a GOP filibuster.
Conservative lawmakers say the Republican leadership touted their pledge to repeal the law prior to the election, but still haven’t developed a legislative game plan.
“Obamacare is the big issue,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, told the Examiner. “Are they going to use reconciliation to take out the law? Because that is the only way to do it. We haven’t gotten started. The Republican leadership has got to decide if they are going to use it.”
But there is much hesitation among Senate GOP lawmakers when it comes to using reconciliation, despite Obamacare’s passage using the same procedure. The move would be limited to only parts of the law, critics said, and would be vetoed by Obama.
“Well, you are very limited in your capability of doing that, as I understand the process,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told the Examiner.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a top member of the Senate Finance Committee, was also hesitant to support it.
“Oh, I am very cautious about using reconciliation,” Hatch said when asked about repealing the healthcare law.
Republican lawmakers are under pressure to formulate a plan to replace the law, not just repeal it.
“If we don’t like Obamacare, what do we like?” Sen. Lindsey Graham said in an interview. “I think the party needs to challenge itself to produce alternatives on multiple fronts.”
The GOP has struggled for years to come up with a comprehensive substitute for Obamacare, although Republicans have proposed bite-sized solutions, such as allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines and limiting medical malpractice awards.
This week’s bill to repeal the law in the House takes a step toward finding an alternative, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote to GOP members, by including “instructions to the relevant committees to develop our patient-centered health care reforms.”
