Posted on 12/21/2014 6:07:41 PM PST by Libloather
Republicans on and off Capitol Hill are rallying behind using a rarely-deployed budget tool next year to dismantle ObamaCare.
But the issue of how to use “budget reconciliation” has divided Republicans, with some calling for it to be implemented to overhaul the tax code or to push through major energy reforms.
The tool is useful because it could allow newly-empowered Senate Republicans to pass legislation with a 51-vote simple majority rather than the usual 60, greatly increasing the chances of moving legislation to President Obama’s desk.
And while Obama is certain to veto anything that tries to roll back his landmark healthcare law, Republicans increasingly see reconciliation as an important messaging tool to help paint a contrast with Democrats on Obamacare ahead of 2016.
“My guidance is that’s where members are headed,” said one senior Senate Republican aide familiar with the behind-the-scenes budget discussions.
There already appears to be strong bipartisan support to undo smaller pieces of Obamacare — things like restoring the 40-hour workweek and repealing the medical device tax — so those provisions wouldn’t require the filibuster-proof budget tool.
While Democrats will certainly have more leverage if they retain the ability to use the Senate’s filibuster, Republicans think they can work across the aisle to enact legislation on taxes and energy.
If Republicans are serious about enacting tax reform next year, they should aim for 60 Senate votes, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office who leads the conservative think tank American Action Forum. Republicans will hold 54 seats come January, so they they’d need at least six Democratic votes.
“That’s better for tax reform because it means it’s more durable,” Holtz-Eakin said. “When you’ve done the work of getting the minority to sign on, it makes it much more likely the White House signs it.”
Furthermore, if reconciliation is used on tax reform or energy, Democrats may refuse to cooperate.
The senior Senate Republican aide called it “unrealistic” to turn to reconciliation to pass tax or energy reform.
“That’s a way to pass something, but it’s not necessarily the way to get an outcome,” the aide said. “If you’re looking to get an outcome, which we are on energy and tax reform, using reconciliation won’t get you any Democrat votes for that.”
To be sure, the issue has not been resolved in the Republican conferences.
A spokesman for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said discussions about reconciliation are ongoing and nothing’s been decided yet. And Ryan, who will grab the gavel of the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee next month, has signaled he’s open to using the powerful budget tool to enact tax reform.
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who will replace Ryan as Budget chairman, threw out a number of possibilities for which Republicans could use the reconciliation process, including reforms to the tax code, entitlements like Medicare, or energy programs.
“I think the conference has to decide, and will decide, whether or not the tools ought to be used for things that we know will provide a contrast with the president, that we know the president will not support,” Price told reporters at the end of the legislative session. “Or things that will get us to do a true change in public policy with his signature.”
Republicans will likely settle on a strategy in mid-January when they map out their 2015 agenda at a joint House and Senate retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
But Republicans are keenly aware that they’ll have to navigate a series of hurdles before they can deploy reconciliation.
First, the House and Senate would have to agree on a budget resolution, no easy feat given that the Budget chairmen, Rep. Price and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), will both be new to the job. And the handful of senators eyeing White House runs might not back the budget blueprint passed by the House.
“2016’s around the corner, so they’re going to be careful of what they’re voting on in the Senate,” said Bill Hoagland, a former longtime Senate Budget Committee staff director who later served as a top budget adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). “It’s not a foregone conclusion that all Republicans will walk in lockstep together on what comes out of the Budget committees.”
Congress is also extremely limited in how it can use the procedural maneuver — typically it’s reserved for just one issue per budget.
And even then, Senate rules say the reconciliation measure must not hike the federal deficit beyond a 10-year period and do not change spending and revenue.
Republicans will engage in back-and-forth negotiations with the Senate parliamentarian and chief referee, Elizabeth MacDonough, who must decide whether their legislation passes the test, a process known as the “Byrd Bath,” named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).
“It is a tough hurdle to overcome,” said Hoagland, who had been through a few baths of his own during his Senate tenure.
The last time reconciliation was used was 2010, when Democrats — shy of a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate — needed it to make changes to the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans should “take the bill that the Democrats passed and you run reverse, you get rid of it. Wholesale,” said Holtz-Eakin.
“If it’s intended as a message vote anyway, you might as well be aggressive,” he said. “It’s not about the legislating.”
Steve Ellis, vice president of the fiscal watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, said he understands why Ryan and others are eyeing reconciliation as a possible vehicle for a major tax overhaul. Both Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) never saw tax reform become a reality before their retirements.
But Ellis said it’s also an extremely risky option to pursue.
“It’s a seductive idea, but the proof will be in the pudding,” Ellis said. “Lawmakers have to recognize how much time and effort do they want to put in that … knowing that it may doom the whole package if you send it to the president for a veto.”
They passed a CR omnibus bill fully funding the entire government until September including Obama care. Flush out your head gear. The GOP Leadership has already screwed you and every other Conservative and they will continue to do so.
Exactly! They passed a budget, at the last moment so nobody could read it, that funds the Government until September. That is 9 months where the new Senate had NO SAY AT ALL. The phones were melting from all the calls asking for a short term budget that would fund the Government until a new Senate could have a say. Back stabbing RINO's could not pass this infamous betrayal without RAT votes and Obama's support. (Obama's support. Need I say more?)
They gave away the store in the $1.1 Trillion budget, and both Boner and McConnell have declared their support for maintaining Bozocare and Amnesty. What’s there to wait for?
All they care about is the damned "messaging." Eff the messaging. Pass the bills and force Obama to veto them. Period.
“The democrat Republican leaders will hustle the filibuster back into existence, perhaps go way back to return it to a full two thirds. The last thing they want for the Republican Party in the Senate is to effectively oppose anything.”
Right, GOPe never misses an opportunity to get it wrong and embarrass themselves with the overwhelming conservative GOP base.
IMHO, Reid drew first blood with the Nuclear Option and I would leave it there until the GOP had the total congress and a Conservative GOP in the White House. The Dems deserve to be punished as payback.
I hate these stories. It offends my intelligence.
It is all total bs to feed us conservatives, they expect us to buy this bullsh1ite.
Our kabuki rino/gop-e leaders have zero intention of doing this. We all know it. They have said so repeatedly. It won’t be done.
They already have told us prior to, and after, the election they will not be doing this. This is just more of the same rino kabuki theater they have been feeding us for years under boner.
Just more GOPe trying to play the Republican base for fools. They gave up the one real tool they had to put some restraint on Obama when they funded the gov’t for the remainder of fiscal 2015, minus DHS, and how much would anyone bet they’ll do anything to restrain Obama’s illegal amnesty?
All this is just strategizing to decide how to continue hoodwinking the base into thinking they really are trying to oppose some of Obama’s policies and illegal actions.
So, the RINOs are going to just use it as a political wedge to organ-grind or to get reelected in 2016. It’s actual repeal means nothing to them.
And funding [taxes] comes from the House of Representatives — which the Republican party has had a majority for how long?
ObamaCare being funded is something to get pissed off at the Republican party over.
I'm fairly certain we'll not see any significant tax reform w/o a Constitutional amendment.
The repukes have been “eyeing”, “contemplating “, “considering”, repealing Obolacare forever. How about the useless turds DO something, now that they control both houses? Yeah, I know they don’t actually control the Senate yet, but I will be absolutely stunned if they actually DO anything.
It was passed by budget reconciliation it will die by budget reconciliation.
“And while Obama is certain to veto anything that tries to roll back his landmark healthcare law, Republicans increasingly see reconciliation as an important messaging tool to help paint a contrast with Democrats on Obamacare ahead of 2016.”
Once again, this is just a ploy to get elected. Just like they pretended to be against amnesty in 2014.
Lying bastards. They’ll never do anything remotely conservative.
“personally, I want to see some caning and bloody noses .... but that’s just me .... or is it ?”
I’d go further than that. Traitors, especially lying ones, deserve much more.
Tar and Feathers.
Lots of tar and feathers.
Yep. The heavy lifting of funding is done so now onto the show!!
It’s all theatrics. It has not a prayer of becoming reality. The GOP has to throw its base a bone to maintain any semblance of credibility, so they can say “Well, we tried.”
I’m to the point where I am hoping and praying for a complete collapse of the system to pave the way for John Galt.
Are you in the market for a Unicorn? How about a large red bridge I have nearby connecting SF to Marin?
Hope you are well.
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