Healthcare

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."

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) on Monday night introduced an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill (S. 223) that would repeal widely despised language in last year's healthcare law that requires more tax reporting for small companies.

The Johanns amendment, S.A. 3, would repeal section 9006 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which requires companies and other organizations to file 1099 tax reporting forms for all goods and services transactions valued at more than $600. Republicans have said this language is an unnecessary burden on small companies, and even Democrats and the Obama administration quickly agreed last year that the provision should be repealed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) responded to a federal court's decision in Florida on Monday that Democrat's healthcare legislation is unconstitutional by accusing those who brought the lawsuit of wanting to "increase prescription prices for seniors and allow insurance companies to once again deny sick children medical care."

"Health care reform is the law of the land and, now that Americans see its benefits, a majority of them oppose Republicans’ dangerous plans to repeal a law that put patients in control of their own health care," Reid said in a statement Monday afternoon.

Earlier Monday, a U.S. District judge in Florida ruled that the healthcare legislation is unconstitutional because of its requirement that every American to purchase health insurance starting in 2014.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) added that he has "long believed in the constitutional authority of Congress" to pass the healthcare law, and said he hopes that "the independent judiciary will recognize Congress's core constitutional authority and the court's long-standing precedents."

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded by applauding the court's decision as another affirmation that the American people oppose the bill.

“Today’s decision affirms the view, held by most of the states and a majority of the American people, that the federal government should not be in the business of forcing you to buy health insurance and punishing you if you don’t," said Boehner.

The House vote to repeal the decision earlier this month and Senate Republicans are now working on a strategy to bring the bill, in whole or in part, to the Senate floor.

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Wally Herger (R-Calif.) also supported the ruling. "As the legal battles make their way to the Supreme Court, Congress must continue to work to repeal the Democrats’ government takeover of health care and replace it with true health care reform that provides all Americans with access to affordable coverage that meets their needs," they said today.

Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) is the first defection; he voted against party on ending publicly financed campaigns.

Key House Republicans last night introduced the HEALTH Act, which aims to lower the cost of healthcare through medical liability reform. The bill is designated as H.R. 5, which indicates it is a high priority for House Republicans.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas); and Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.).

In a statement Monday, the three members said medical malpractice reforms have proven effective in reducing healthcare costs, and noted that President Obama has said he wants to find ways to help minimize defensive medical practices, such as over-treatment designed more to avoid possible legal action.

Among other things, the bill would limit the number of years a plaintiff has to file a legal claim against medical practitioners and ensure that doctors are only liable for the portion of a procedure for which they are at fault. The latter provision would limit the ability of a plaintiff's lawyers to seek "deep pockets" in a legal challenge.

The bill also ensures that more monetary awards would go to patients, not patients' lawyers, puts "reasonable limits" on punitive damages and allows states to maintain their own damage award caps.

Following a week of battle over the repeal of last year’s healthcare legislation, the House meets again on Monday to take up the equally divisive issue of deficit reduction. Details of the week follow:

Monday, Jan. 24

The House meets at noon for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

The first item taken up will be H.Res. 43, which sets the rule for one hour of debate on a resolution (to be taken up Tuesday) to reduce the spending of the federal government to 2008 levels or less.

Tuesday, Jan 25

The House meets at 10 a.m. for morning hour debate and at noon for legislative business. The House will recess no later than 5 p.m. to provide time for preparation for the State of the Union.

The House will consider the following resolutions under a suspension of the rules:

A resolution from Rep. Tom Lathan (R-Iowa) that allows recipients of Medal of Honor or their families to request and receive flags flown over the Capitol building.

H.R. 366, which temporarily extends federal lending programs for small businesses through May 31.

H.Res. 38, which is the Republican budget resolution to reduce spending levels for the rest of this fiscal year at levels below those of 2008. Under this resolution, the Budget Committee will establish spending levels for FY 2011, and ultimately, a continuing resolution reflecting these spending levels will be voted on by the House.

The House will meet again at 8:35 p.m. for the president’s State of the Union address.

Wednesday, Jan. 26

On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for legislative business and will take up H.R. 359, which would eliminate federal funding for presidential campaigns.

Thursday and Friday, Jan. 27 and 28

The House is not in session.

With a little more than two weeks under their belt, Republicans in the 112th Congress are slowly affirming their legislative goals through the process of assigning them priority bill numbers.

The Republican majority has control of bills numbered 1 through 10, and as of this week had filled four of those slots. H.R. 2, of course, is the healthcare repeal bill, which was approved on Wednesday.

In the middle of this week, Republicans introduced H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. That bill is sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and boasts 161 cosponsors. The bill has been referred to House Committees on Judiciary, Energy & Commerce, and Ways & Means, but these committees have not yet announced any hearings or markups on the bill.

The House has just approved a resolution instructing four committees to work on alternatives to last year's healthcare law. The measure, H.R. 9, was approved by a 253-175 vote, a wider margin than Wednesday's 245-189 vote to repeal the healthcare law.

Fourteen House Democrats voted for the resolution: Reps. Jason Altmire (Pa.), John Barrow (Ga.), Dan Boren (Okla.), Corrine Brown (Fla.), Ben Chandler (Ky.), Mark Critz (Pa.), Tim Holden (Pa.), Larry Kissell (N.C.), Lipinski (Ill.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Mike Ross (Ark.), and Heath Shuler (N.C.).

The mostly partisan vote came amid Democratic complaints that the resolution is simply an instruction to work on alternatives, and is not an actual healthcare plan. That, coupled with yesterday's repeal vote, has Democrats worried that Republicans were quick to repeal last year's law but will be slow to come up with alternatives.

H.R. 9 was approved with an amendment that also asks committees to come up with a permanent solution to the Medicare physician reimbursement rate (see post immediately below).

Updated at 11:45 a.m.

The House has just overwhelmingly approved language in support of finding a permanent Medicare physician payment schedule that does not require periodic legislation in order to avoid steep cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates to doctors.

In a 428-1 vote, the House agreed to amend H.Res. 9 with the so-called "doc fix" language from Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah). H.Res. 9, which the House is expected to approve in the next few minutes, asks the committees to meet a series of objectives, such as lower costs, coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and preserving doctor choice. The Matheson amendment adds to those objectives a permanent Medicare reimbursement solution.

Only Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) voted against the amendment.

Speaking in defense of his amendment, Matheson said the current reimbursement system is "flawed," in part because it has forced Congress to repeatedly pass bills to avoid steep cuts in physician payments. He noted that last year alone, the House had five votes to avoid scheduled cuts.

At the same time, Matheson said he does not support Republican efforts to repeal last year's healthcare law.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) said he supports the Matheson language, a sentiment that was clearly echoed in the final vote tally, as no Republicans voted against the Matheson amendment.

Updated at 12:17 p.m.

The second phase of Republican plans to repeal the healthcare law started Thursday at 9 a.m., amid continuing sharp criticism from House Democrats.

The House began debate on H.Res. 9, which assigns four House committees to draw up an alternative healthcare plan. The resolution will effectively allow the House to continue to pursue changes to current law, given that yesterday's healthcare repeal bill in the House is expected to go nowhere in the Senate.

Nonetheless, Democrats continued their attacks on the Republican effort. Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), speaking for Rules Committee Democrats, said H.Res. 9 "isn't a serious effort" because it only asks committees to develop healthcare alternatives over time, and makes no promise that any of these possible proposals would be passed into law.

"It's a series of talking points," McGovern said. "It's a press release. Instead of repeal and replace, it's repeal and relax."

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) pointed out this morning that H.Res. 9 does not assign any deadlines for coming up with health alternatives, pointing out the Democrats' suspicion that Republicans may never develop their own healthcare plan. Weiner argued that Republicans do not seem to have any plan at all to improve healthcare at this point, and exclaimed, "I will eat this rostrum" if they follow through.

Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), the Rules Committee chairman, rejected these sentiments in his opening remarks, and implied that developing workable healthcare alternatives should take some time. "The four committees of jurisdiction have a great deal of work ahead of them," he said. "This is a process to which we all must contribute."

The four committees that will be charged with coming up with new healthcare proposals are the Committees on Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, and Ways and Means. Passage of the resolution is expected by noon today.

—Updated at 9:53 a.m.