GOP Lawmaker Calls On Senate To 'Go Nuclear' To Pass Health Care Repeal
By ALICE OLLSTEIN Published MARCH 9, 2017, 5:00 PM EST
Republicans in Congress are in a bind. House conservatives are complaining that the Donald Trump-endorsed bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act retains or replicates too many of its rules and provisions. But if these members prevail in stripping out those provisions, the bill has no chance of passing the more moderate Senate—where any non-budgetary modifications to the health care law must clear a 60-vote threshold and where Republicans currently hold only 52 seats.
To solve this conundrum, Freedom Caucus member and current holdout on the bill Rep. David Brat (R-VA) told reporters Thursday that the Senate should blow up its 60-vote rule and push the bill through with 51 votes—overruling the Senate parliamentarian. Brat described it as "going nuclear," a term which in recent political history has meant blowing up the Senate filibuster. This is a different scenario, but the upshot would be similar: avoiding a Senate filibuster.
Holding court with reporters in the ornate House Speakers' Lounge after a vote on Thursday, Brat complained that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has urged Republicans to be mindful of the Senate's rules, which limit what policies they can include in their bill.
"He wants to be respectful of the Senate rules. I do not," Brat said. "We're getting information that everything we want is being blocked in the Senate—insurance regs stuff especially. But I don't buy that. Whoever is sitting in the chair can rewrite the rules."
The rule that would need to be overriden is the Byrd Rule—Brat derided it as the "bird bath" rule— which imposes limits on the legislative process that Republicans want to use to pass Obamacare repeal. The process, known as reconciliation, requires only a majority vote and thus avoids a filibuster. Under the Byrd rule, it can only be used on legislation that impacts the federal deficit.
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