Senate to begin debate on Obamacare repeal resolution
by Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi
January 3, 2017
Washington, D.C.– Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today (Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017) introduced a resolution providing for the repeal of Obamacare, noting that six years after its enactment, Obamacare has clearly failed hardworking Americans.
"Americans face skyrocketing premiums and soaring deductibles," said Chairman Enzi. "Insurers are withdrawing from markets across the country, leaving many families with fewer choices and less access to care than they had before – the opposite of what the law promised. Today, we take the first steps to repair the nation’s broken health care system, removing Washington from the equation and putting control back where it belongs: with patients, their families, and their doctors."
This repeal resolution promises relief for Americans from Obamacare and provides the tools necessary to repeal this failed law.
The resolution includes:
• Reconciliation instructions to authorizing committees so that repeal legislation can move through a fast-track process and can pass with only a simple majority in the Senate, as in the House. These instructions to committees are provided to facilitate immediate action on repeal, with the intent of sending legislation to the new President’s desk as soon as possible.
• The resolution provides reconciliation instructions to four authorizing committees – Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce in the House, Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Senate – to achieve at least $1 billion each in deficit reduction over 10 years (fiscal years 2017 through 2026).
• The resolution calls for the authorizing committees to report legislation to their Budget Committee by January 27, 2017. The legislation will be combined for consideration on the floors of the respective Chambers.
• Reserve funds necessary to accommodate legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. These authorities permit the Budget Committee Chairs to adjust resolution figures as needed to accommodate patient-centered health care reform legislation in the future.
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