Van Hollen: Health reform ruling looms over fall budget battles

The House Democratic leader on budget issues said Tuesday that the Supreme Court case on President Obama’s healthcare reform bill looms over likely lame-duck negotiations on tax and spending policy.

“There is no doubt that that is a wild card,” Van Hollen told reporters at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor.

If the Supreme Court strikes down part of the health reform law, Democrats could have a tougher time defending spending on it when 2013 appropriations bills and a replacement for next year’s automatic “sequester” are under negotiation.

Van Hollen stopped short of admitting the uphill climb. He said that at this point lawmakers do not know how the Supreme Court will rule and if the entire law will be thrown out if the central requirement that all individuals obtain health insurance is struck down on constitutional grounds.

“They have to untangle a lot of other issues,” he said.

The Supreme Court ruling is expected next month on Obama’s signature legislative achievement. House Republicans have repeatedly voted to repeal the entire law and in the last two House GOP budgets claim savings from eliminating elements of the law, though the Congressional Budget Office says the law will reduce the deficit by $125 billion over 10 years.

The House GOP’s bill to replace automatic cuts triggered to defense next year claims savings from eliminating a health reform prevention fund.

Van Hollen blasted the GOP for these cuts and for failing to offer their own alternative to healthcare reform

“The first thing they did was pass a resolution calling for the repeal and replace of healthcare reform,” Van Hollen said. “Well we haven’t seen ‘replace.’”

Van Hollen admitted that Democrats have not sold what the GOP derisively terms “ObamaCare” to the public well.

“All of us should have done a better job of explaining its benefits,” he said.

---