The Senate Parliamentarian gives rulings on all bills before they are voted on. Because the healthcare bill is being passed under reconciliation rules to make it possible to ram it through with 50 votes plus a Pence tiebreaker, it is subject to what are called “Byrd Rules.”
The Parliamentarian has found several points in the bill that she judges not subject to reconciliation rules and therefore would need 60 votes to pass. The Parliamentarian’s findings are subject to Senate approval, so this all might seem like a waste of time, but her findings can be used by the Democrats as delaying tactics and might be the subject of lawsuits further down the line.
The questionable topics are
- Restrictions on abortion coverage
- A provision defunding Planned Parenthood
- A newly permissive state waiver process
- Changes to rules governing insurance pricing by age
- Funding for cost-sharing reductions
- Elimination of the medical-loss ratio rule
- The Cruz Amendment
These are pretty significant pieces of the bill. The New York Times has an explainer and the judgement of a panel of experts as to how likely each provision is to be struck. They also have an article on the politics of it, as does New York Magazine. There are a couple of others, but those seemed best to me. Here’s an explanation from the Senate Budget Committee’s Minority [Democratic] staff. Maybe David will have more to say.
Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against Healthcare ProvisionsPost + Comments (196)