Congress
Obamacare ‘auto-enrollees’ are key target as Republicans formulate tax-credit extension plan
As Republicans formulate a plan to potentially extend key health insurance subsidies that are at the center of the government shutdown fight, House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie warned in an interview Tuesday that any extension would “absolutely” need to include a crackdown on so-called “phantom” Obamacare enrollees.
The move is sure to spark a clash with Democrats, who successfully challenged similar provisions from Guthrie’s committees when they were included in the GOP megabill that passed over the summer. But now Republicans have more leverage as Democrats push for the continuation of tax credits that are set to expire Dec. 31.
“If there’s going to be an extension of those tax credits, the program integrity stuff … absolutely needs to be in place,” Guthrie said.
He was referencing a suite of Republican policies that would put new curbs on reenrollment for the enhanced insurance subsidies that are at the core of Democrats’ shutdown demands. Republicans and influential conservative health lobbyists complain the status quo leads to waste, fraud and abuse.
“Once you sign up, you’re on it forever,” Guthrie said.
Democrats argue those complaints aren’t grounded in reality, and the GOP push could set off a larger fight over how Americans enrolled in the program. Many Democrats, especially progressives, are worried about adding new barriers to access coverage, which they argue would disproportionately hit low-income Americans.
When Republicans tried to insert new curbs in their party-line megabill, Senate Democrats successfully challenged the provisions with the chamber’s parliamentarian.
Now House and Senate GOP leaders are making a big push for a crackdown on auto-enrollment as they begin talks among themselves and with White House officials about a possible subsidy extension and other conservative health care policy initiatives.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune in particular frequently references phantom enrollment as one problem Republicans want to tackle. At least some Democrats are open to negotiating on the topic, and there have been quiet, informal conversations in the Senate about that piece specifically.
“I understand what their issue is,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in an interview Thursday. “And if they would work with us and have a real negotiation on how we fix the premiums, I think that is something that we could address.”
Kelly confirmed he’s talked to “several” Republican colleagues about the policy, adding, “I think they have some points.” The other “other side” of the argument, he said, is that “folks that don’t have a lot of means, when you put barriers in front of them, they tend to drop their health insurance.”
Robert King contributed to this report.
Congress
Johnson touts ‘bipartisan’ path for FISA reauthorization, but obstacles remain
Speaker Mike Johnson is raising the possibility of a “bipartisan” path forward on extending a key spy authority after negotiations among House Republicans blew up late last week.
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to find strong bipartisan consensus that builds off of the really meaningful reforms that we included in the legislation the last time we reauthorized it,” Johnson said during a news conference Tuesday morning.
The emergency short-term reauthorization Congress cleared last week expires April 30, putting pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal quickly.
Among the options GOP leaders are discussing: If the Senate can advance a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with policy changes, the House could then pass it with a majority of Republicans and some Democrats, according to three people granted anonymity to share direct knowledge of ongoing conversations.
It’s also possible Johnson could put that measure on the House floor under an expedited procedure that does not require prior adoption of a party-line rule, but would need a two-thirds majority voting in the affirmative to secure passage. House GOP leaders still need to appease hard-liners who have very specific demands for new guardrails on warrentless surveillance practices as part of any reauthorization measure.
House Democratic leaders, meanwhile, aren’t promising cooperation — and they’re skeptical Johnson is as close to a deal as he might suggest.
“His confidence meter was always pretty high, and then he put a bill on the floor that had zero consensus among his caucus, and looked like the disaster that it was after midnight,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California told reporters Tuesday.
He added that he has not had “any discussions” yet with Republican counterparts on next steps for Section 702, and “absent those conversations, it’s going to be hard to find bipartisan consensus.” Aguilar also said that Democrats would follow the leads of House Intelligence Chair Jim Himes of Connecticut and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
Johnson is planning to meet Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Darin LaHood of Illinois later Tuesday as the pair of Republicans works with Democrats on a bipartisan FISA extension plan, according to two people granted anonymity to share private scheduling.
Congress
Graham releases blueprint for GOP immigration enforcement funding plan
Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham unveiled a fiscal blueprint Tuesday paving the way for the GOP’s party-line immigration enforcement plan.
The budget resolution is the first step in Republicans’ two-step plan to deliver a bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other agencies to President Donald Trump’s desk by his self-imposed June 1 deadline.
Senate Republicans are aiming to adopt the budget resolution this week. Senate Majority Leader John Thune can lose as many as three GOP members so long as Vice President JD Vance is available to break ties.
“Republicans are doing something that must be done quickly, and that our Democrat colleagues are trying to prevent us from doing. That something is simple: fully fund Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great threat to the United States,” Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement.
The budget resolution tasks the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with drafting the subsequent immigration enforcement bill.
The resolution gives the committees until May 15 to hand over text. It sets a ceiling of $70 billion for the Judiciary Committee’s portion and $70 billion for the Homeland Security panel’s portion. While the language would allow for a larger bill, a Graham aide said Tuesday that Republicans are aiming to keep the measure to about $70 billion.
Senate Republicans are expected to take an initial vote on the budget resolution as soon as Tuesday afternoon. After that they’ll need to complete a marathon session known as a vote-a-rama before they can approve the fiscal blueprint and send it to the House.
Democrats are expected to force several amendments related to cost-of-living concerns. Senate conservatives could also try to expand the scope of the bill, though GOP leaders hope to avoid making any changes to Graham’s text.
House Republicans could take their own vote next week. They are also waiting to grant approval of a Senate-passed deal to fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. Speaker Mike Johnson has delayed action on the measure amid hard-right demands that the Senate move on the immigration enforcement funding bill first.
Some House conservatives want the Senate to complete the entire reconciliation process, which allows ICE funding to bypass a Democratic filibuster, before they take up the larger DHS deal. That could drag the agency’s shutdown deep into May.
Senate Republicans are aiming to put the final immigration enforcement bill on the floor the week of May 11.
Congress
‘Many families are struggling’
Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan offered a rare acknowledgment from a GOP leader Tuesday that the U.S. economy might not be in tip-top condition. McClain, the Republican Conference chair, said at a news conference that “even with bigger [tax] refunds, many families are struggling right now, and I get it.”
That’s a departure from the message President Donald Trump sent at a event in Las Vegas last week, where he said “everything’s doing really well” and played down the impact of higher energy prices since he ordered military strikes on Iran.
“But we also owe it to the American people to be honest about how we got here, to make sure we don’t ever go back again,” McClain, the No. 4 party leader added, saying Americans are “digging out of a hole” from former President Joe Biden’s administration.
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