ACA/Obamacare: Repeal via the Legislative Tool Known as “Reconciliation”

‘Now, following Trump’s defeat of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Republicans are laying the groundwork for dismantling the Affordable Care Act next year.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a sentence-per-sentence destruction of the bill, but I do think that substantial chunks of it are in really grave danger,” Seth Chandler, a visiting scholar at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and a professor at the University of Houston Law Center, told The Daily Signal.

Republicans need 60 votes in the Senate to pass a bill repealing the health care law and would fall short of that threshold in the new Congress, where the GOP will hold at least 52 seats.

But GOP lawmakers are likely to use a budget tool called reconciliation—a procedure used in the Senate that allows a bill to pass with 51 votes—to roll back key provisions of Obamacare and avoid a Democratic filibuster.

The GOP-led House and Senate passed a budget resolution last year that included instructions to use reconciliation to repeal Obamacare and were ultimately successful in getting it to Obama’s desk, where it was vetoed.

The bill called for the repeal of the individual and employer mandates, Medicaid expansion, tax credits, medical device tax, and Cadillac tax. It also stripped the government of its authority to run the exchanges set up under the law and lessened the fine for failing to comply with the mandates to $0, which was needed to abide by Senate rules.

GOP leaders in the House and Senate haven’t committed to using reconciliation again next year to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, but House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the law is “collapsing under its own weight.”

“This Congress, this House majority, this Senate majority has already demonstrated and proven we’re able to pass legislation and put it on the president’s desk,” Ryan, R-Wis., said during a press conference. “Problem is, President Obama vetoed it. Now, we have a President Trump who has promised to fix this.”’ - How Republicans Can Start to Dismantle Obamacare With a Trump Presidency, dailysignal.com, 11/09/2016

　

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http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/09/how-republicans-can-start-to-dismantle-obamacare-with-a-trump-presidency/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRabFlXWXdOV1F5WXpGaiIsInQiOiJZeEkyQ1RhanVSOWMyWTlKTmRPTXEzbTg0RXRFM1daZU5LcFFoK3JPK090cG5UVmNYWjhIQ3FvZUJpc2NJK1ZRMStqT0xjM1FHSlhCU3lVRWQ4TGJHOWJiNTloajdPVlpwaytyOGhXYUZDQT0ifQ%3D%3D