As President Donald Trump seeks to overhaul the Affordable Care Act with a new health care system, Republican senators running for influential leadership positions say the party has no plans to pursue that and the new year’s big tax bill. states that they should be combined.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told NBC News Tuesday night after the vice presidential debate in New York that if voters elect President Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, Republicans would “get more health care.” “It’s affordable and we can make it more customized.” It’s more personalized than a one-size-fits-all option,” he said, referring to the ACA, or Obamacare.
“Next year, when it comes time to extend the Trump tax cuts, we will once again have the opportunity to adopt new policies that will make health care more affordable and more personalized,” Cotton said. “Because a lot of health care in this country goes through the tax code. So I think it’s going to be a really good opportunity next year.”
With key parts of the 2017 bill set to expire at the end of next year, Republicans are widely considering extending the Trump tax law, saying they need to prevent tax hikes.
Cotton, who is running for No. 3 Republican as part of next year’s Senate leadership shakeup, said Republicans could add health care changes to the Trump tax cut extension through a filibuster-proof “reconciliation” process. Ta. Expenses and taxes. A majority in Congress would allow major policy legislation to be passed at once with only Republican votes.
“Democrats have become so obstructive against President Trump that their opportunities to pass major legislation next year will likely focus on extending the Trump tax cuts from 2017, among other measures,” Cotton said. said.
President Trump has called Obamacare “terrible” and said he wants to replace it, but has not offered an alternative, and during the Sept. 10 presidential debate he offered “idea of a plan” to remake the health care system. He said there was, but did not go into specifics. . The Trump campaign has not disclosed a schedule for announcing its plans.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, is running a TV ad attacking President Trump’s push to restart discussions on the ACA. The ACA says it aims to repeal the ACA, which would cancel subsidies that help people buy insurance and eliminate regulations that prevent insurance companies from charging people. Prices are higher if you have pre-existing conditions.
Even with a landslide electoral victory, it is by no means clear that Republicans will have enough support to revive the fight against the ACA now that the law is popular. Many Republicans want to end the chapter after exit polls showed they paid a price for trying to repeal it in the 2018 and 2020 elections. But if Trump wins this fall, his influence over the party could increase even further.
Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C., chairman of the Finance Committee, which oversees tax and health care policy, said Congress will scrutinize the expensive proposals in President Trump’s tax bill. These include extending the 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and Social Security income, which are expected to cost trillions of dollars.
“It’s great that we can have a debate, but at the end of the day we need to get either 51 or 60 votes. 51 votes for reconciliation or 60 votes to change these things,” Tillis said. . “Then you have to consider the cost and the impact.”
Tillis was referring to the fact that Senate rules impose budgetary constraints on how much money can pass through the 51-vote reconciliation process, which Republicans must address.
“So, we’re going to embrace all of this, but we can’t be everything to everyone at once,” he said. “We have to get something passed, perhaps through reconciliation, and we have to see how those priorities play out and how we pay for it.”
In 2017, President Trump and Congressional Republicans attempted to repeal the ACA, but failed. After a few months, cotton persuaded the party This is a policy passed through the tax code that would use a separate tax law to “zero out” the ACA’s personal mandate (which requires people to pay penalties if they are uninsured).
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R.S.D., who is running to be the next Senate Republican leader, said the scope of reconciliation would expand “significantly” and give Republicans “hopefully to work on tax policy and maybe tax policy.” I was given an opportunity.” There are some other things you can accomplish as well. ”
He did not suggest that overhauling health care insurance would be one of them, but he made it clear that raising taxes is inevitable in order to stop them.
“Obviously we have to do something,” Thun said.
Garrett Haack reported from New York and Sahil Kapur from Washington.
