News: A bipartisan group of House members is introducing a bill to extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies for two years with new income limits and anti-fraud measures.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) is leading the effort, along with GOP Reps. Don Bacon (Neb.), Rob Bresnahan (Pa.) and Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), plus Democratic Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Tom Suozzi (N.Y.), Don Davis (N.C.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.). The legislation — summarized here — would also crack down on pharmacy benefit managers and expand health savings accounts.
The bipartisan group is considering trying to force a House vote through a discharge petition. And they have a legislative vehicle they could use to speed up the process.
Yet using a discharge petition would be a long shot. It’s not clear if House Democratic leadership would back this compromise, which would need heavy support from their side to succeed. But lawmakers seeking an ACA patch — even if it can’t happen until after the subsidies expire on Dec. 31 — are turning to last-ditch plans as the deadline approaches.
Senate ‘show’ votes. Senate Republican leaders are set to decide after today’s lunch meeting whether to hold a vote on a GOP-drafted alternative to Thursday’s planned vote on Democrats’ bill extending the Obamacare subsidies for three years.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune made news Monday evening when he backed a proposal from Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.).
Crapo told us that he and Cassidy assembled a plan they believe can get the widest backing from GOP senators, who so far haven’t been able to unite behind a single proposal. If enough Senate Republicans back the Crapo-Cassidy approach, that could push Thune to hold a separate vote on it on Thursday. Senators and aides still believe Thune is unlikely to go that route.
But Thune has been under a ton of pressure from those GOP senators who want to be able to vote on an alternative to the Democrats’ bill.
“What signal will it send if Republicans say, ‘Aw man, we’re going to say no to the Democrats’ plan but we’re not going to offer anything,’” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who left open the possibility of voting for the Democratic bill. “The message that will send is: ‘Good luck to the American people and we don’t really care.’”
Yet make no mistake about it — neither the Democratic bill nor the Crapo-Cassidy bill will become law.
It’s also difficult to see how a true bipartisan negotiation could begin after these messaging exercises fizzle out, especially with the Senate likely to need all of next week to pass the annual defense policy bill before the holiday recess begins.
Senators are skeptical of January action, and the floor could be jammed up with appropriations bills by that time. Government funding runs out Jan. 30.
While Thune is trying to frame the Crapo-Cassidy bill as a starting point for bipartisan negotiations, Democrats have long panned the very foundation of the proposal as a non-starter and even fought to remove similar provisions from the GOP reconciliation bill.
But Thune seems to be banking on a re-run of the sequence that ended the recent government shutdown — rank-and-file Democrats breaking from their leadership to join Republicans. Thune said this week’s messaging exercises are “leadership-driven” and that Democrats’ position is “untenable.”
It’s unlikely that enough Democrats would be willing to break with their party to support something resembling the Crapo-Cassidy bill, even if Republicans were offering to add a short-term pared-back ACA extension.
On top of that, restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion services continue to be a major impediment to a bipartisan compromise.
A separate Senate GOP plan unveiled this week by Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — a two-year Obamacare extension with income caps and other reforms — doesn’t include any abortion language, which is turning off many Republicans.
This idea also highlights Republican divisions over the broader legislative strategy. The Crapo-Cassidy bill essentially creates a new system without a gradual wind-down of the Obamacare subsidies. Moreno said Congress should address the narrow issue of the looming subsidy cliff before doing anything else.
“We’re pretty much in concert [with Crapo-Cassidy]… But we have to solve these Biden bonuses first and then do some of the things that can be done,” Moreno told us. “Let’s just fix this hyper-specific thing.”
In the House. Most of the House Republican leadership seems befuddled over why Speaker Mike Johnson promised to pass a health care bill this month. But the GOP leadership may just have to make it happen. There are strong political incentives in trying to vote on something when health care premiums are about to spike for millions of Americans.
The tentative leadership plan seems to be to unveil some of the contours of the health-care proposal during the House Republican Conference meeting on Wednesday morning.
As of now, the House GOP health care effort seems to center around a bill that would expand HSAs, reform PBMs, institute risk pools for health insurance plans and put in place cost-sharing reductions, according to multiple sources close to the discussions.
The House GOP leadership still hasn’t decided whether their plan will extend the expiring Obamacare subsidies. This seems to be a sticking point at the moment. There’s a chance that the House GOP leadership bails on its plans to pass a bill if the Senate declines to move on a GOP plan.
NDAA latest. House Republican leadership is somewhat concerned about the NDAA this week. It’ll be on the floor Wednesday. Getting the rule passed will be a challenge. House GOP leadership is leaving open the possibility of passing the measure on suspension if they can’t get a rule. Suspension would require two-thirds for passage.
