With all the talk about the Trump administration’s repeal of Obamacare, the biggest news story of the day was a bill to roll back President Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy.
The bill is being pushed by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who told CNN he was going to introduce a bill in the House that would repeal Obamacare in its entirety.
Scalise has said he was inspired to introduce the bill by Trump’s “repeal and replace” rhetoric, and he also cited the bill’s inclusion of the Affordable Care Act’s “essential health benefits” as a key feature of his plan.
But the bill was overshadowed by the fallout from Trump’s tweets, which he accused of being “fake news” and “phony news” after he said Congress had been “slow-walking the repeal of the ACA” with no progress.
Scalia also said he hoped that the bill would include an amendment to end a requirement that all health insurance companies cover birth control.
Scaler said he did not want to “bully” people into signing up for health insurance.
But he said he would also “bitch and moan” if a new health insurance plan that did not cover birth-control coverage was introduced.
In the wake of Trump’s threats, Scalise announced he was delaying a vote on the bill until after his next primary campaign.
The plan is being considered as a “reconciliation” bill, meaning it would have to go through the Senate to get a vote, with the Senate’s top Republican and Democrats voting against it, according to The Hill.
But with a slim 52-48 Senate majority, this could be difficult for Scalise to overcome.
Scale said that he expects the bill to pass with a simple majority, and that he would seek to move the legislation to the House in a conference committee, where it would then be up to the two chambers to negotiate the final form of the bill.