Understanding you can act on
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| Published: | 2017-Jan-23 |
| Last Updated: | 2017-Feb-03 |
| Principal Writer: | Barry Shatzman |
 | Understanding The Issue |
 | Issue Status |
Concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2017
2017 (SConRes3)
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Obamacare repeal fails in Senate
The biggest threat to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was a bill that came out of the the budget reconciliation process.
The American Health Care Act went through several iterations as Congressional Republicans tried to find a proposal that could be agreed to by 50 of their 52 senators (with all Democrats voting against the bill Vice President Mike Pence would have cast the tie-breaking vote).
Because the bill was subject to budget reconciliation rules, the Senate had until Sept. 30, 2017 (the end of the government's fiscal year) to pass it.
On Sept. 26, after 3 Republican senators said they would vote against the bill, Senate Republican leaders pulled the bill from consideration, keeping Obamacare in place.
With appeal on hold - administration stops payments
In May 2016, a federal judge ruled in House of Representatives v. Burwell that payments of Cost-Sharing Reduction Subsidies by the Obama Administration were unconstitutional, because Congress had not appropriated the money.
The Obama Administration appealed, and was allowed to continue making the payments.
The Trump administration initially continued to make the payments, but announced in Oct. 2017 that the payments would be stopped.
This case originally was House v. Burwell (Sylvia Matthews Burwell was Secretary of Health and Human Services under Pres. Barack Obama). The name changed to House v. Price when Tom Price became the Secretary under Pres. Trump.
For more, read the New York Times story.
President Trump issues first-day executive order
On Jan. 20 - Donald Trump's first day in office - the new president issued an executive order stating his administration's intent to seek the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and give more control to individual states in setting health care policy.
The order contains no specific instructions, and it has had no effect on the law.
Read our report for more on the executive order.
Obamacare can be disabled by eliminating funding
The House of Representatives and Senate have agreed to a blueprint for dismantling the PPACA.
The concurrent resolution is a budget agreement calling for congressional committees to draft bills that reduce spending. Because these bills would affect spending or revenue (taxes) directly, they are eligible to be passed through the budget reconciliation process. This means they can be passed in the Senate with a simple majority - they are not subject to filibuster.
While such bills could not change basic requirements of the PPACA and still be eligible for the budget reconciliation process, they can eliminate funding and enforcement - effectively disabling the nation's health care policy.
The resolution passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It does not need to be signed by the president, because it is not enforceable. Subsequent bills arising from this one (for which budget reconciliation is expected to be used), will require the president's signature in order to take effect.
Click here to read our discussion of the resolution.