Sen. Barrasso: GOP Not Interested In Simple Fix To Obamacare

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Republican Policy Committee chairman, speaks to reporters as he leaves the Senate chamber after a roll call vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014. Congress returns ... Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Republican Policy Committee chairman, speaks to reporters as he leaves the Senate chamber after a roll call vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014. Congress returns to work for the lame duck session today following a sweep for the GOP in the midterm elections that will shift the balance of power in January, giving Republicans control of the Senate with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., taking over as majority leader. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND — With the Supreme Court poised to hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell next week, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) reiterated Thursday that Republicans aren’t interested in fixing the subsidies language at the heart of the case.

“You can imagine if the Supreme Court rules against the president and said he’s acted illegally, he’s going to completely attack,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) during a panel on conservative alternatives to Obamacare. “He’s going to call them a partisan court and then he’s going to say ‘I’ve got this one-page solution. Just make everything I’ve done, make it legal.’ And we’re not prepared to do that.”

Proponents of Obamacare are hoping to convince Chief Justice John Roberts, considered a key vote in the case, that there will be no viable political solution from the current Congress if the Court invalidates the federal tax subsidies. Likewise, many Republicans have been pushing for the GOP to offer viable Obamacare alternatives before the Court decides the case to make it easier for Roberts to decide in their favor. A Republican alternative seems unlikely to be forthcoming before the Court votes privately on the case next Friday.

If the Supreme Court invalidated the law, it would effectively gut a key part of the law that helps finance expanded coverage. Barrasso’s statement underscores Republican opposition to a simple fix to law’s subsidies provision, seven words that gave rise to the lawsuit challenging whether subsides were available in the more than 30 states that use the federal exchange.

Latest DC
16
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. One more time my “Democratic Friends”…get off your sorry lazy asses and fucking vote. Had 300 more of you lazy fucks voted in Florida in 2000…just 300 of you worthless assholes…you have NONE of this. You have NO Roberts, NO Alito on the Court. If that doesn’t motivate you to fucking vote than fuck you all and ENJOY!!!

  2. The Affordable Care Act dropped millions of paying customers into the laps of the insurance companies. Why on Earth are they standing idly by while Republicans try to kill their cash cow?

  3. Avatar for marby marby says:

    “GOP Not Interested in Simple Fix to Obamacare” is not exactly a shocking headline.

  4. How could the Supreme Court find that POTUS acted illegally when the House and the Senate passed the bill?

  5. The GOP is not interested in a simple fix to SSI/SSD either. They say they “love America”, but they act to impoverish, afflict and kill Americans prematurely: homegrown American terrorism.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

10 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for richardinjax Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for marby Avatar for charliee Avatar for sdsumom Avatar for radicalcentrist Avatar for trnc Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for occamsrazor2

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: