Senate Parliamentarian Mucks Up Senate Republicans’ Health Plan—Again

The GOP can’t allow states to opt out of consumer protections, the parliamentarian ruled.

Bill Clark/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

As Republicans continue to barrel toward a final vote Thursday or Friday on their plan to overturn Obamacare, the official Senate rules-keeper weighed in yet again Thursday to tell Republicans that parts of their plan violate the body’s rules. The Senate parliamentarian said that a policy to allow states to opt out of consumer protections such as essential health benefits could not be included in the final bill. 

This ruling, along with others by the parliamentarian, suggests that the GOP won’t be able to use budget reconciliation—which allows the Senate to bypass its usual 60-vote threshold and move legislation with a simple majority—to defang Obamacare’s consumer protections for people with preexisting conditions, a main goal of conservatives in the Senate. It was only by stripping out these protections that the House was able to get a group of very conservative members on board and pass its version of the health bill.

“The parliamentarian’s latest decision reveals once again that Republicans have abused the reconciliation process in an attempt to radically change one-sixth of the American economy by repealing the Affordable Care Act,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member on the Budget Committee, said in a statement announcing the parliamentarian’s ruling.

Since they hold just 52 seats in the Senate, Republicans are trying to pass an Obamacare repeal using reconciliation. But reconciliation comes with restrictions, including that each part of the bill has to be relevant to the budget and that the overall package does not increase the deficit.

Republicans have run into trouble with that first part. The Senate parliamentarian has tossed out a number of provisions as irrelevant to the budget. In addition to the latest ruling on state innovation waivers, the parliamentarian has rejected a provision that would have increased the amount insurers can charge older consumers (which the AARP has branded an “age tax”), another provision that would defund Planned Parenthood for one year, and many others

Senate Republicans have already voted down the full repeal-and-replace plan introduce by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Now McConnell has turned to a fallback option known as a “skinny repeal.” (“Skinny” is a bit of a misnomer, since the measure would likely still cause more than 15 million fewer people to have insurance). It’s unclear if that skinny bill is the final product that Republicans hope will one day be signed by President Donald Trump, or if it’s just a tool to start discussions with the House to carve out a final compromise. But whatever final bill the Senate clears will need to get the parliamentarian’s approval if Republicans want to pass it without Democratic support.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate