GOP defunding effort on Obamacare faces hard-line resistance

Republicans’ bid to use the budget to carve up Obamacare is hitting resistance as some influential conservative groups say that by repealing only parts of the health law, party leaders are reneging on promises of a full repeal.

The political arm of The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday told House lawmakers to reject the measure when it comes up for a vote Friday, saying it leaves too much of the Affordable Care Act intact.

But other influential groups are urging a “Yes” vote, saying parts of the bill stripping federal funding from Planned Parenthood are enough to earn support. Those backers include the Family Research Council and the National Right to Life Committee.

The health law and Planned Parenthood provisions are being combined under a budget tool known as “reconciliation,” which can help lawmakers circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and force President Obama to wield his veto pen — something he’s vowed to do.

That makes the fight among conservative groups over the details of the bill somewhat futile, though no less intense.

“Once again, House Republican leaders are putting their members in a terrible position. This bill will not restore Americans’ health care freedom because it leaves the main pillars of the law in place,” Heritage Action, the political arm of The Heritage Foundation think tank, said in a statement warning that anyone who votes for the measure will be docked in the group’s annual scorecard.

The bill Republican leaders are offering would repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate requiring Americans to hold adequate health coverage. It also gets rid of a phased-in insurance mandate on large employers, of a yet-to-be-appointed board on Medicare spending and of taxes on both medical device sales and generous “Cadillac” health plans offered by some employers.

Aides on both sides of the Capitol said outside conservatives who opposed the package didn’t seem to grasp the limits of reconciliation and would not hold much influence over the vote.

House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price urged members to support the package Tuesday after it passed his committee along party lines, 21-11, earlier this month.

“We now have a legislative package that abolishes major pillars of Obamacare that are both directly responsible for the coercive nature of this law and within the scope of the reconciliation process,” he said.

Republicans have tried to pass a full repeal of Obamacare, as well as bills to end specific parts of the law. Each attempt has been doomed by Senate filibusters or inaction from a chamber led by Democrats.

Republicans, however, captured control of the chamber this year, renewing the debate.

Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican and a leading Obamacare critic, said he’s waiting to see what actually comes over from the House and if it meets the Senate’s reconciliation rules, although he cast it as a prelude to more consequential action in 2017.

“Reconciliation is one tool to be able to claw away at damaging parts of the health care law, but we actually need a Republican president in order to fully repeal and replace this law,” he said.

Heritage Action, however, insists full repeal is the only acceptable solution.

“GOP leaders are violating an explicit promise made in the budget and walking back on their public commitment to fully repeal Obamacare,” the group said late Monday. “By doing so they are undermining any serious effort to repeal the law in 2017.”