If you’ve been trying to figure out where President Trump stands on repairing the Affordable Care Act – good luck. He literally has changed positions in as little as 11 minutes – reporters have clocked it. (Check out this Atlantic piece about how much Trump has flipped back and forth.) The president may well change his position again by the time you read this. Nevertheless… Continue reading
The Affordable Care Act last week survived yet another near-death experience – but the story isn’t over.
What’s next, though, is not yet clear. Here are a few possibilities, with the caveat that so much is in flux anything can happen: Continue reading
Photo: Sam Bowman via Flickr
Reconciliation. Vote-a-rama. Budget points of order. What’s going on in the Senate?
The short version is that the Senate is going to spend at least the next few days (and nights) debating bills that would repeal and/or replace the Affordable Care Act.
It will vote on many amendments, from both Republicans and Democrats – some during a lengthy “vote-a-rama” offered by both Republicans and Democrats. And the whole process will be governed by budget reconciliation rules with the Senate Parliamentarian as the referee. Continue reading
Paul Ryan
Obamacare is the law of the land. … We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” – Paul Ryan
That was the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after pulling the GOP health care bill from consideration because it was clear there weren’t enough votes to pass it.
The Associated Press sums up the range of emotion after the decision was announced: After health care bill’s withdrawal, elation and anger. It also points out the “winners, losers and a few in between.”
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The House Republicans finally unveiled an ACA repeal bill on March 6. But they face critics on the right in both the House and Senate who have been clamoring for a bill that’s even more slimmed down.
And, in the Senate, they face a handful of Republicans (not all of whom are moderates, incidentally) from states that have expanded Medicaid – and who want those coverage gains preserved along with the federal funding that pays for the bulk of it. Continue reading
