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Confronting Revolt On Healthcare Bill, Senate Republicans Postpone Vote

Confronting Revolt On Healthcare Bill, Senate Republicans Postpone Vote

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Republican leaders postponed a vote on a healthcare overhaul on Tuesday after resistance from members of their own party, and President Donald Trump summoned Republican senators to the White House to urge them to break the impasse.

The delay put the future of a longtime top Republican priority in doubt amid concerns about the Senate bill from both moderate and conservative Republicans. With Democrats united in their opposition, Republicans can afford to lose only two votes among their own ranks in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had been pushing for a vote ahead of the July 4 recess that starts at the end of the week. The legislation would repeal major elements of Obamacare and shrink the Medicaid government healthcare program for the poor.

“We’re going to press on,” McConnell said after announcing the delay, adding that leaders would keep working to make senators “comfortable” with the bill. “We’re optimistic we’re going to get to a result that is better than the status quo.”

At the White House meeting with most of the 52 Republican senators, Trump said it was vital to reach agreement on the Senate healthcare measure because Obamacare was “melting down.”

“So we’re going to talk and we’re going to see what we can do. We’re getting very close,” Trump told the senators. But he added, “If we don’t get it done, it’s just going to be something that we’re not going to like, and that’s okay.”

McConnell, whose party has a razor-thin majority in the 100-member Senate, told reporters that Republican leaders would work through the week to win over the 50 senators needed to pass the bill, with a vote planned after the recess. Vice President Mike Pence could provide the crucial vote needed to break a tie.

The Senate has delayed the vote on the controversial GOP led healthcare legislation. GOP leaders in the Senate did not have enough support for the bill to put it to a vote and have delayed voting on the measure until after the July 4th break. The decision to delay the vote came amid the growing concern about the current drafted Healthcare Bill and the impact it will have on millions of Americans who have access to coverage as well as sustaining medicaid. Senate Republicans can only loose two votes, in order for the bill to remain in play. So far six Republican senators came out publicly saying they could not support the health care draft bill as written.

“I think we can get 50 votes to yes by the end of the week,” Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) said after the White House meeting.

The House of Representatives last month passed its own version of a healthcare bill, but the Senate bill has been criticized from both the left and the right. Moderate Republicans worried millions of people would lose their insurance. Conservatives said the bill does not do enough to erase Obamacare.

The bill’s prospects were not helped by a Congressional Budget Office analysis on Monday saying it would cause 22 million Americans to lose insurance over the next decade, although it would reduce the federal deficit by $321 billion over that period.

The report prompted Senator Susan Collins, a Republican moderate, to say she could not support the bill as it stands. At least four conservative Republican senators said they were still opposed after the CBO analysis.

Three more Senate Republicans, Rob Portman of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, said after the delay was announced that they oppose the current draft.

Portman and Capito cited the bill’s Medicaid cutbacks and how that would hurt efforts to combat the opioid epidemic that has taken a heavy toll in their states. The Medicaid program was expanded under former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.

“I think giving time to digest is a good thing,” Republican Senator Bob Corker said after the delay was announced.

U.S. stock prices fell, as the decision to postpone the vote added to investor worries about Trump’s ability to deliver on his promises of tax reform and deregulation, as well as changes to the health sector. Those expected changes have driven a rally in U.S. stocks this year.

The benchmark S&P 500 index closed down 0.8 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 98.9 percent.

“The market likes certainty and now there’s uncertainty. What is this going to look like when this gets out of the next iteration?” said Peter Costa, president of trading firm Empire Executions Inc.

Passing the measure would be a win for Trump as he seeks to shift attention after weeks of questions over Russia’s role in last year’s U.S. presidential election.

McConnell has promised since 2010 that Republicans, who view Obamacare as a costly government intrusion, would destroy the law “root and branch” if they controlled Congress and the White House. Republicans worry a failure to deliver will cost them votes in next year’s congressional elections.

If the Senate passes a healthcare bill, it will either have to be approved by the House or the two chambers would reconcile the differences in a conference committee. Otherwise, the House could pass a new version and send it back to the Senate.

Lawmakers are expected to leave town by Friday for their July 4 holiday break, which runs all next week. The Senate returns to work on July 10, the House on July 11. Lawmakers then have three weeks in session before their month-long August recess.

(Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abulateb, Amanda Becker, Eric Walsh, Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; Writing by John Whitesides and Frances Kerry; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Senate Health Care Bill Would Leave 22 Million Without Insurance

Senate Health Care Bill Would Leave 22 Million Without Insurance

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Twenty-two million Americans would lose insurance over the next decade under the healthcare bill drafted by U.S. Senate Republicans, a nonpartisan office said on Monday, an assessment that will likely make it more difficult for the already-fraught legislation to win support for speedy passage.

The Congressional Budget Office’s assessment complicates the task ahead for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who must find a way to reconcile the demands of moderate Republicans concerned about people losing their insurance and conservative senators who say the bill does not do enough to repeal Obamacare.

Several moderates Republicans, including Susan Collins of Maine, have already said they could not support a bill that resulted in tens of millions of people losing their insurance.

The CBO estimated that in 2026 49 million people would be uninsured under the Senate bill, compared with 28 million under the current law. It also estimated that the Senate bill would decrease the budget deficit by $321 billion over 2017-2026.

The CBO score is likely to amplify criticism from industry groups such as the American Hospital Association and American Medical Association, which said earlier on Monday that the Senate’s bill violated the doctors’ precept of ” first, do no harm.”

President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress have been pushing to repeal and replace Obamacare, Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation.

Republican leaders want to hold a vote on the bill before the July 4 recess that starts at the end of this week. Republicans have only a 52-seat majority in the 100-seat Senate, so McConnell can lose just two Republican senators, relying on Vice President Mike Pence to cast the tie-breaking vote. No Democratic senators have said they would back the bill.

Earlier on Monday, Republicans released changes to their healthcare bill, adding a measure that would penalize people who let their insurance coverage lapse for an extended period, following criticism that the original bill would result in a sicker – and more expensive – insurance pool.

The original Senate bill had dropped the Obamacare penalty on those who do not have insurance. Experts had warned that canceling the fine could lead to a sicker pool of people with insurance, because young and healthy people would not face consequences for failing to purchase insurance.

The revised bill would impose a six-month waiting period for anyone who lets their health insurance lapse for over 63 days and then wants to re-enroll in a plan in the individual market.

The version of a healthcare bill passed by the Republican-majority House of Representatives last month includes a provision also aimed at those who let their insurance lapse for more than 63 days, allowing insurers to charge a 30 percent penalty over their premium for one year.

Under Senate rules, the bill must replicate savings projected in a House version of the legislation that passed last month. The CBO found that the Senate bill saved more than the House, clearing one critical hurdle.

Democrats have assailed the Republican healthcare proposals, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer strongly criticized the new waiting-period provision, saying in a statement that tens of millions of Americans experience a gap in their healthcare coverage every year because of job losses or temporary financial problems.

The provision “would pour salt in that wound, locking American families out of health insurance for even longer, thanks to this six-month ban provision,” Schumer said.

The American Medical Association said it was especially concerned with a proposal to put the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor on a budget, saying this could “fail to take into account unanticipated costs of new medical innovations or the fiscal impact of public health epidemics, such as the crisis of opioid abuse currently ravaging our nation.”

Jun.26 -- The Obamacare replacement plan put forward by Senate Republicans would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million while slashing funding for Medicaid, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. Bloomberg's Anna Edney reports on

At least four conservative Republicans – Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson and Mike Lee – have expressed opposition to the original draft legislation, saying it does not go far enough in repealing Obamacare.

Moderate Republican Senator Dean Heller said on Saturday that he could not support the Senate bill as written, and some other moderates have either withheld judgment or expressed doubts about replacing Obamacare with legislation that is similar to the House version.

They are concerned that the party’s approach to healthcare would cause too many people, especially those with low incomes, to lose health coverage. The CBO estimated the House bill would cause 23 million people to lose insurance.

Republicans have targeted Obamacare since it was passed in 2010, viewing it as costly government intrusion and saying that individual insurance markets are collapsing. The legislation expanded health coverage to some 20 million Americans, through provisions such as mandating that individuals obtain health insurance and expanding Medicaid.

As he did during the House negotiations, Trump has personally pushed for a Senate bill, calling fellow Republicans to mobilize support.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday that Trump had talked over the weekend to Cruz, Paul and Johnson, as well as Senator Shelley Moore Capito, “and I think several others.”

A spokesman for Paul said the senator and Trump had a “productive call” and that Paul was open to working with the president and Senate colleagues on improving the bill.

America First Policies, a political group run by former Trump campaign staffers, said it would air healthcare-related attack ads against Heller, who faces a competitive re-election race next year. “Why did @SenDeanHeller lie to voters about #RepealAndReplace? He’s now with @NancyPelosi. NOT GOOD! #HellerVotesYes,” the group tweeted on Monday, referencing Representative Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat.

Health insurance companies have expressed concern about the bill’s plan to cut Medicaid and the impact on state governments as well as the prospect of losing Obamacare’s mandate on individuals to buy insurance.

Insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield said in a statement on Monday that it was encouraged by the steps in the revised bill to make the individual insurance market more stable, including strong incentives for people to stay covered continuously.

If the Senate passes a bill, it will either have to be approved by the House, the two chambers would have to reconcile their differences in a conference committee, or the House could pass a new version and bounce it back to the Senate.

(Writing by Richard Cowan and Frances Kerry; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Eric Walsh, Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler)

RBG Hopes ‘Cooler Heads’ Prevail On SCOTUS Vacancy

RBG Hopes ‘Cooler Heads’ Prevail On SCOTUS Vacancy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said on Wednesday she hoped “cooler heads will prevail” over the vacancy on the Supreme Court, suggesting that Republicans should act on President Barack Obama’s nominee.

Ginsburg’s comments at Georgetown Law Center came a day after Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate renewed their push for a confirmation hearing for Obama’s pick, appeals court judge Merrick Garland.

The nomination has been pending for 175 days without Senate action, the longest ever to the high court.

Republicans have said the next president should get to make the appointment because the vacancy, created by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia in February, came in the final year of Obama’s presidency.

“I do think that cooler heads will prevail, I hope sooner rather than later,” Ginsburg said.

Ginsburg, 83, a liberal appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993, acknowledged that the Senate, which has the responsibility to confirm or reject judicial nominations, did not have to confirm the nominee. But she said it did have an obligation to at least consider Garland instead of taking no action at all.

“The president is elected for four years, not three years,” she said in relation to the president’s authority to make appointments in the final year of a term. “Maybe some members of the Senate will wake up and appreciate that that’s how it should be.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Democratic senators held a press conference outside the Supreme Court demanding action on the nomination.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has so far held firm to his pledge to take no action.

The nine-seat court has been one justice short since Scalia’s death. With four liberals and four conservatives now on the bench, an appointment by a Democratic president could end decades of conservative domination on the court.

Ginsburg has a long track record of making sometimes outspoken public remarks, in stark contrast to most of her colleagues. In July, she issued a statement in which she said she regretted comments she made in press interviews criticizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In one CNN interview she described him as a “faker.”

Photo: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrives to watch U.S. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 20, 2015. Picture TAKEN January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

Republicans Consider Using Reconciliation If They Take The Senate

Republicans Consider Using Reconciliation If They Take The Senate

By Paul M. Krawzak, CQ Roll Call

WASHINGTON — Republicans are beginning to focus on what they could accomplish through budget reconciliation next year if the GOP takes control of the Senate.

They could use the filibuster-proof reconciliation process to pass budget-related measures — including an overhaul of entitlement programs, changes to the tax code, and even raising the debt limit — assuming Republicans in the two chambers could put aside their differences and agree on a fiscal 2016 budget resolution. Much of the early discussion also centers on repealing parts of the Affordable Care Act and advancing the GOP’s energy agenda.

Some Republicans savor the thought of confronting President Barack Obama with legislation that he would be forced to sign or veto.

“It’s a whole different context when you put a real tax reform bill on his desk that doesn’t raise taxes and does the right kind of things in our tax code, and he’s got to take a stand,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). “You put those good pieces of legislation on the president’s desk and you make him deal with it.”

House GOP leaders have started to solicit ideas for what could be included in a reconciliation bill. Several people outside Congress said Republicans are circulating documents that discuss the possible uses of reconciliation, and other budget issues.

“The things I have heard people talk about are they could do some tax changes, which I think they’d like to do,” said Jim Dyer, a principal at the Podesta Group and former staff director of the House Appropriations Committee. “They are talking about energy issues. I would expect one of the things that the Republicans can do some good with, I think, is to try to develop the seeds of a national energy policy, perhaps relaxing oil and energy exports.”

Dyer added that reconciliation could be used to “take a good hard look at the EPA, at its regulations, to try to strike a more effective balance between regulating, between the economy and perhaps assuaging the concerns of those who are worried about the environment.”

Reconciliation legislation can be passed in the Senate with a simple majority, rather than a much harder to achieve three-fifths vote.

But the procedure is governed by strict limitations. In the Senate, for example, provisions can be struck from reconciliation legislation by a point of order if they don’t have any budgetary impact or just an incidental budget impact. Budget law also generally prohibits the use of reconciliation bills to make changes in Social Security.

It will also be a significant challenge for Republicans to forge compromises, because of what would likely be a very small Senate majority if they retake the leadership, and to agree on a budget resolution, given the gulf between conservative House lawmakers and some more moderate GOP senators.

Many House and Senate Republicans favor using reconciliation, and some expect it to be employed next year. The last time the procedure was used was in 2010, when Democrats controlled both chambers and passed a reconciliation bill as part of the health-care law.

“The only thing that matters in those budget packages is reconciliation instructions,” said Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA), a member of the House Budget Committee and the recently elected chairman of the Republican Study Committee. “Everybody in this building knows if we’re going to save Social Security and Medicare for future generations, if we’re going to take the worry out of those programs, if we’re going to deal with Social Security disability insurance, it’s going to be done through reconciliation instructions.”

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, would like to see reconciliation instructions to overhaul the tax code, make changes in entitlement programs, and raise the debt limit, which is currently suspended until March 15. “We are going to have to deal with the debt limit again,” Portman said. “Most people think that has to be dealt with again next year. So I just want to be sure that we have a plan to get some reforms in place.”

The GOP could package a debt-limit increase with other provisions to cut mandatory spending programs and change tax policy, potentially presenting Obama with a difficult decision. Congress alternatively could pass separate reconciliation bills for taxes, spending, and the debt limit.

Jordan favors using reconciliation. “You could use it to get after spending, some of the forms on the mandatory side which is where the growth is, and changes obviously, looking at things you can do with health care, Obamacare, and the tax code,” he said.

Reconciliation instructions “suddenly make whatever’s in the budget look more appealing than it would be without those legislative tools that you don’t have without the budget,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO).

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), also supports reconciliation. “I don’t see how you could do the financial things and really address the entitlement crisis that we have without doing that,” he said.

AFP Photo/Mark Wilson

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