Latest Obamacare repeal bill may get a vote in the Senate — and then would head to the President GovTrack.us Follow Dec 2, 2015 · 3 min read

That is, if presidential politics don’t get in the way.

Senate Republicans this week will attempt to use one of their most powerful parliamentary tools to send President Obama a bill to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and prohibit Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood services for one year. But the Senate parliamentarian and presidential politics may prevent the proposal from getting a vote.

The debate is on a budget reconciliation package — a special type of bill that can’t be filibustered, meaning it needs just 51 votes to pass (not the typical 60), as long as it deals exclusively with budgetary issues. The House passed the bill last month.

Presidential candidates say the bill doesn’t go far enough

Even though Republicans control 54 seats in the Senate, getting the 51 votes needed to pass this bill is not a slam dunk. Three Republicans have said they will vote against the bill because it does not go far enough in dismantling the Affordable Care Act, including two who are running for President.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are currently competing with the rest of the GOP presidential field to win the support of conservative voters and campaign donors. Compromising on the Affordable Care Act, even if it means a small win for Senate Republicans, could cost them key support. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has also said he will vote against the bill because it does not do enough to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“Each of us campaigned on a promise to fully repeal Obamacare and a reconciliation bill is the best way to send such legislation to President Obama’s desk,” Cruz, Rubio, and Lee said in a joint statement. “If this bill cannot be amended so that it fully repeals Obamacare pursuant to Senate rules, we cannot support this bill. With millions of Americans now getting health premium increase notices in the mail, we owe our constituents nothing less.”

Several Republicans have voted to keep Planned Parenthood funding before

In addition, several other Republicans may vote against the bill because it blocks public funding of Planned Parenthood. Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-NH), and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) are all generally supportive of funding the organization, and they all voted against a bill to defund it back in September.

The Parliamentarian’s Ruling

Further complicating matters, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled earlier this month that some of the language repealing Obamacare provisions could not be included in the package and would have to removed or modified for the bill to proceed under the fast-track reconciliation rules.

Under rules created by the Senate back in 1990, all provisions of a reconciliation bill must be directly relevant to the budget. According to the Parliamentarian, the Planned Parenthood language and the language on taxes in the Affordable Care Act qualify under this rule, but the language repealing the individual and employer mandates would only have an incidental impact on the budget and thus are not eligible.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says that he has a technical fix for the bill wording that can be passed as an amendment and satisfy the Parliamentarian’s concerns. Other senators, however, are doubtful that a small tweak would be enough to reverse the Parliamentarian’s ruling.

The Inevitable Veto

President Obama has repeatedly stated that he would veto any legislation that is presented to him that repeals or amends any part of the Affordable Care Act. Still, congressional Republicans have been trying for years to pass a bill through Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and this year’s reconciliation process is their last real chance for forcing Obama to make good on his veto threat.

About the bill

The bill would repeal several major pieces of the Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate requiring people to have health insurance, the employer mandate requiring large employers to provide insurance plans to their employees, the medical devices tax, and the so-called “Cadillac tax” on the most expensive health plans. It would also restrict federal funding for Planned Parenthood for a period of one year and boost funding for the Community Health Center fund.