Ted Cruz has found an obscure provision in a decades-old rule that could either give Republicans sweeping new authority in their Obamacare replacement bill, or “blow up the Senate.”

As it stands, many Republican lawmakers are unhappy that the new GOP healthcare reform bill is not broad enough – that it’s nothing but “Obamacare Lite.”

The main reason for this is because Senate rules allow a Democratic filibuster, so the GOP can’t go very far.

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But the Texas Senator – and onetime political foe of President Donald Trump – says he found a way around that: special rules written into the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that allows Vice President Pence to overrule existing senate rules. As Cruz puts it:

“Under the Budget Act of 1974, which is what governs reconciliation, it is the presiding officer, the vice president of the United States, who rules on what’s permissible on reconciliation and what is not,” Cruz told reporters Thursday. “That’s a conversation I’ve been having with a number of my colleagues.”

Of course, this kind of parliamentary maneuvering could totally destroy the U.S. Senate, as Bloomberg points out.

That didn’t stop Cruz from meeting with Pence this week to discuss strategy for passing a healthcare reform bill.

Welcomed @SenTedCruz to my office in the @WhiteHouse. Looking forward to working closely with the Senator on important legislation ahead. pic.twitter.com/F8stH4k1iR — Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) March 8, 2017

The process would allow Republicans to include a number of provisions that would make the healthcare bill much more appealing to conservatives, he said.

For example, they could “repeal all of the insurance regulations in Obamacare that have increased premiums,” especially one that decreased competition by keeping insurers from selling across state lines.

The Hill reports this new rule would be almost impossible for Democrats to overcome.

It would be difficult for Democrats to overturn Pence’s decisions. They would need to muster 60 votes to reverse him, and they only control 48 seats, including the Independents who caucus with them.

Democrats scoffed at the idea.

Senate Democrats rejected Cruz’s proposal as a direct violation of Senate precedent.

“Then anything could be subject to reconciliation,” said a senior Democratic aide. “You could authorize war with a simple majority and argue that it affects spending.” The aide called Cruz’s idea “outlandish and not going to happen.”

H/T: IJR.com





