Senate GOP budget signals delay of a full Obamacare repeal
Senate Republicans signaled Friday that they don't intend to push further for a full Obamacare repeal in the near future despite the fact that President Trump repeatedly claimed incorrectly this week that the GOP has the necessary votes to pass such a measure.
Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee released a non-binding 89-page 2018 budget resolution that would direct the Senate Finance Committee to find $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade and would direct the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to reduce the deficit by $1 billion over that period.
The resolution doesn't contain reconciliation instructions for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which indicates that a full Obamacare repeal is no longer the priority. Bloomberg News reports that the resolution, however, would still allow for a much more narrow repeal bill that could, for example, reverse the 2010 health care law's individual mandate.
Senate GOP leaders opted not to bring a last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill to the floor this week ahead of Saturday's deadline to use reconciliation because they lacked the votes. Mr. Trump, for some reason, has insisted afterward that they did have the votes.
Overall, the budget blueprint calls for $5.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, reducing non-defense discretionary spending by $632 billion during that time. That funding covers the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institutes of Health, among many other agencies.
This comes after President Trump and congressional Republicans announced a general framework for an overhaul of the tax code this week.
The 2018 budget resolution proposed by House Republicans over the summer and passed out of committee in July differs from the Senate version. It contains reconciliation instructions to 11 authorizing committees and directs them to find at least $203 billion in savings and reforms to mandatory programs. The blueprint also aims to cut improper payments across the government by $700 billion. That resolution incorporated the House-passed Obamacare repeal bill and all of its savings and calls for a partial privatization of Medicare and cuts to Medicaid, but the Senate does not touch those programs.
The House is expected to vote on its version next week and will likely pass, now that the conservative Freedom Caucus has endorsed it. Because the House and Senate plans aren't identical, both chambers will have to iron out the differences in a conference committee if they ultimately are adopted by both chambers.