Healthcare

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signaled that Republicans will continue to offer amendments to change the Democrats' healthcare law even if Wednesday's repeal vote fails as expected.   

Graham and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a doctor, introduced legislation on Tuesday that would allow states to opt out of the law's individual mandate, employee mandate and Medicaid mandate.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Graham said he "looks forward" to having the opt-out legislation considered as an amendment. 

“I look forward to casting my vote to repeal and replace,” Graham said. “If that does not work, I look forward to having my amendment, along with Sen. Barrasso, on the floor of the Senate, allowing states to opt out if they choose.”

The legislation, S. 244, The State Health Care Choice Act, is part of Republicans’ effort to "repeal and replace" the Democrats’ healthcare law.

“Instead of requiring states to follow ObamaCare’s one-size-fits-all healthcare policy, our bill lets states decide what works best for them," Barrasso said in a statement. "We will fight to repeal the president’s bad health spending law and provide states with flexibility, freedom and choice."

But Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday he has yet to see a serious attempt at “replacing” the law from Republicans.

"It used to be 'repeal and replace,' but there is no replacement,” Schumer said. 

Sen. Mikulski criticizes GOP, says Democrats once couldn't "get a Kleenex" without a CBO score for GOP approval.

Senate Republicans Wednesday morning rejected arguments from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and others that four out of five Americans are opposed to Republican plans to repeal last year's healthcare law.

Reid has cited New York Times/CBS poll data from mid-January that said only 40 percent support repeal, and 48 percent want to keep the law. Of the 40 percent wanting repeal, half of that group, or 20 percent of everyone polled, wanted full repeal, which Republicans are pursuing this week. According to that poll, 80 percent want to either let the bill stand or repeal just part of it.

In a "fact check" e-mail sent out this morning, Senate Republicans challenged that assertion by citing other poll numbers. The GOP cited a CNN poll from mid-January that found 50 percent of those polled want to repeal the entire law, and just 42 percent want to keep all provisions in place.

Republicans cited other polls that had similar results. A Quinnipiac National Poll found that 48 percent favored repeal, and 43 percent wanted to keep the law. A Gallup poll found that 46 percent favored repeal and 40 percent favored keeping the law.

Debate on healthcare reform is heating up today in anticipation of a vote on an amendment to the FAA authorization bill that would repeal last year's law.

Updated at 2:28 p.m.

The Senate will convene today at 10 a.m., and after a much-anticipated speech from new Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will continue to work on an agreement on how to dispose of more than a dozen amendments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill.

Votes are expected on at least two high-profile amendments, according to an agreement reached by Senate leaders from both parties yesterday. The big amendment is from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), S.A. 13, which would repeal last year's healthcare law. Democrats are expected to raise a point of order against that amendment, and that point of order is likely to be sustained.

The Senate this week seems closer than ever to approving a repeal of 1099 language in last year's healthcare law.

Today's afternoon debate on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill has turned into a debate over healthcare in anticipation of votes on the law's repeal sometime tomorrow.

"All of the sudden, here we are on health," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) this afternoon. He spoke at length on the FAA bill early this afternoon, only to have debate shift to healthcare after Senate leaders said they would consider both a healthcare repeal bill and a 1099 repeal bill as amendments.

Rockefeller himself took to the floor just after 4:30 p.m. to talk about healthcare rather than the mostly non-controversial FAA bill. He said that far from resenting the sudden shift, he thinks it shows that the Senate is operating openly because it is allowing members to bring up issues they care about.

Senate Democratic leaders said they are prepared to defeat an amendment repealing the healthcare law that Republicans are trying to attach to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill.

 "The FAA bill is important," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters today. "We are going to do everything we can to get rid of these amendments. The first amendment of course, if Senator McConnell does offer that, and we are told he is going to, it's not going to go anyplace."

 During the press conference, Reid said Democrats plan to swiftly defeat the amendment in a floor vote and then move on.

"A point of order against it will be sustained and [healthcare repeal] won’t pass and then we will move to the FAA bill," said Reid. "We want to get this out of our system quickly."

As majority leader, Reid controls the legislative schedule for the Senate and has refused to allow a vote on a standalone bill that would repeal the healthcare legislation. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced such a bill to the Senate floor after it had passed the House.

At 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, McConnell took the Senate floor to introduce his amendment. Democrats also allowed Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) to introduce an amendment that would repeal tax-reporting language in the healthcare law, which both parties support.

Republican leadership hashed a deal out with Democratic leadership in late January that allows amendments to be added to most pieces of Senate legislation in exchange for fewer filibusters.

Senate leaders today decided to take up two healthcare amendments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill. The first, from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), would repeal last year's healthcare law, and the second, from Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), would repeal language that increases the tax filing burden on small companies.

McConnell and Stabenow spoke shortly after 3 p.m. today on their two amendments. McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) interrupted debate on the FAA bill in order to mention the two amendments.

The Stabenow bill could be approved, since both parties have agreed to repeal of the so-called 1099 tax reporting requirement. But McConnell's amendment is highly likely to fail in a party-line vote. Democrats are expected to raise a point of order against the amendment, and a vote could occur by Wednesday.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) today offered a legal defense of last year's healthcare bill on the Senate floor in a speech that seemed also to serve as an audition to become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution.

Durbin admitted today that he is "aspiring" to chair that subcommittee, which will hold a hearing tomorrow to examine the constitutionality of the healthcare law. The chairmanship has not been decided since former chairman Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) lost his reelection bid in November.

In his remarks today, Durbin said yesterday's federal court decision against the law is "out of the mainstream" and a "plain case of overreaching," because Florida Judge Roger Vinson declared the entire law null and void, though he found that only that the insurance mandate violated the Constitution.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in his opening floor statement this morning that yesterday's decision by a Florida court that last year's healthcare law violates the Constitution argues even more forcefully for a repeal of the law.

"When two federal courts in a row rule that this bill is unconstitutional, and we learn every day of some other way it's not only making healthcare worse, but also hurting jobs and the economy, it's no wonder more Americans support repeal than oppose it," he said. "Court rulings like the one out of Florida yesterday only add to the urgency of scrapping this bill and starting over."