Wednesday: Repeal of Obamacare Act

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches, then at noon to finish debate and pass H.R. 6079, the Repeal of Obamacare Act.

The House debated the bill for four and a half hours on Tuesday, and has just 30 minutes of debate left, which is controlled by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

If Tuesday was any guide, the last bit of debate will give Republicans one last chance to warn that the 2010 healthcare law is driving up healthcare costs and is a wet blanket on the U.S. economy, and will give Democrats one last chance to argue that the House should be considering some other bill that creates jobs.

About the only mystery left is how many Democrats will vote for the measure, and even that was probably revealed on Tuesday. In the vote on the rule for the bill, four Democrats voted with Republicans, and might be the only four to join the GOP on the final vote — Reps. Dan Boren (Okla.), Larry Kissell (N.C.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Mike Ross (Ark.).

A final vote is expected by 3 or 4 p.m. Wednesday. Along the way, the House is also expected to debate a rule for H.R. 4402, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (the House appears likely to start by debating that rule at around 12:30 p.m., then move to the final phase of debate for the healthcare repeal bill).

The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. to continue work on S. 2237, the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act. But the Senate might get through the day without holding any votes — on Tuesday, the chamber voted to end debate on a motion to proceed to the bill, which could mean a vote to proceed by Thursday.

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