Congress faces December deadline with healthcare premiums set to spike

The Capitol Hill meeting next December appears to be following a familiar scenario.

There is a deadline for Congress to act on (insert issue here). And if lawmakers don’t act by January 1 (insert consequences here). So, everyone on Capitol Hill is demanding the tracks need to be finished (in light of the problem). Lawmakers and staff have reached the limits of their wits. Everyone is worried that Congress will solve the problem and get everyone home for the holidays.

There’s always the worry that Congress will emerge as The Grinch, stealing Whoville’s Christmas toys.

But legislators often end up working hard and efficiently as Santa’s elves, engaging in late-night, overnight and weekend sessions, usually finishing (insert number here) in time for St. Nick.

A traveler’s guide to Thursday’s big Senate votes on health care

This pattern is always the same. With a few differences.

This parliamentary dance of sugar fairies often focuses on government funding deadlines, the debt ceiling, and tax policy. That was the case when the Senate passed the first version of Obamacare on Christmas Eve morning in 2009. Republicans skated on thin ice to finish the tax reform package in December 2017.

Lawmakers moved quickly to approve a defense policy bill in late 2020, then made sure they had enough time in the calendar to override President Trump’s veto of the legislation before the end of the 116th Congress in early January 2021.

Deadlines sometimes veer into the political side. There was a scramble to finish articles of impeachment on the House floor for both Presidents Clinton and Trump in December 1998 and December 2019, respectively.

So, after everyone had the government shutdown resolved this fall, lawmakers were far from ready to address the root cause of the problem. Democrats have refused to fund the government unless Congress addresses rising health care premiums. These bonuses rise on January 1. No one was able to build enough consensus to pass the bill before the end of the year.

yet.

But this is only in mid-December. And everyone knows that the Christmas legislative spirit in Congress may be slow to take hold. Some holiday magic may have officially arrived Thursday afternoon after the Senate torched competing health care plans for Republicans and Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for extending existing Obamacare benefits for three years without any built-in reforms.

“This will require Democrats to get out of a position they know is untenable, sit down in a serious way, and work with Republicans,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said of the Democratic proposal.

Thune described the Democrats’ maneuver as a “political messaging exercise.”

Moderate Republicans stage rebellion against Obamacare as frustrations over health care costs erupt at home

Republicans even considered not putting forward a health care plan at all. It was the group of Senate Democrats that ultimately helped break the filibuster to reopen the government last month, and that demanded a health care-related vote (not a reform, but a vote) in December. So, that’s all Thawne will stick to.

“If Republicans vote down the Democrats’ proposal, we’ll let the bonuses go up and Republicans won’t deliver anything. What message would that send?” asked Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri. “I know what people in Missouri are going to think. They’re going to look at that, and they’re going to say, ‘Well, you guys don’t do anything.’ You just let my insurance premiums go up.”

It may come to that.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, asked what message a “no” vote by his party would send. (Valerie Blish/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Therefore, there is a health care affordability crisis during the holidays.

“People are now looking at exactly what lies ahead, and they are very afraid,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

But most Senate Republicans coalesced around a plan drafted by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, and Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-Los Angeles. The bill would not renew Obamacare subsidies. Instead, it would allow people to deposit money into a health care savings account and shop for coverage.

“Our plan will reduce premiums by 1% and save taxpayers money,” Crapo boasted. “In contrast, Democrats’ temporary Covid bonuses do not lower costs or premiums at all.”

With prices soaring, Republicans are desperate to do something, even if it’s just a fig leaf, as they face competitive races next year.

Collins and Moreno unveil Obamacare plan as Republicans search for solution to expiring support

“It has nothing to do with me,” said Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. “It has everything to do with people in Ohio and across America who need to be able to afford health care.”

Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, has appointed Husted to succeed Vice President Vance after he leaves the Senate. Therefore, 2026 will be Husted’s first time on the Senate ballot.

There has been some talk that Republicans might allow a limited extension of Obamacare aid as long as Democrats agree to abortion restrictions in return.

“Off the table. They know it very well,” Schumer exclaimed.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said abortion restrictions in exchange for a limited extension are “off the table.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

So it took 60 years for the competing plans to clear a procedural hurdle. But this also meant that both plans were doomed to failure without the problem being resolved before the end of the year.

“We have to have something viable to vote on before we get out of here,” Republican Sen. Thom Tillis lamented.

That’s why the magic of Congress’s Christmas calendar often forces lawmakers to find a last-minute solution.

“Every lawmaker here wants to go home for Christmas,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas. “This pressure is what forces us to come together.”

Congress faces a holiday crisis as health care reform collides with a shrinking calendar

We’ll soon find out whether everyone will harness the high bonuses after days of political posturing.

“It should have been done in July or August. So, we’re up against a deadline,” Hawley said.

Procrastination by legislators may lead to this.

“Health care is incredibly complex,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. “You’re not going to fix it and cut costs overnight.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Los Angeles, is promising a separate health care bill. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, is now promising a separate, as-yet-unwritten health care bill in the coming days.

“You’ll see a package of measures rolled out next week that will actually cut insurance premiums for 100% of Americans,” Johnson said.

But it’s unclear whether Congress can pass anything.

“I think there’s a fear of working with Democrats. There’s a fear of taking action without the president’s blessing,” Democratic Nevada Rep. Susie Lee said.

GOP grapples with Obamacare reform as Trump looms over support battle

That’s why Congress could skip town for the holidays without solving the problem.

“It’s going to be used as a sledgehammer on us a year from now,” said Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska.

This is not a great message for Republicans – especially on affordability – ahead of the midterm elections.

California Republican Rep. Kevin Kelly said: “If there is no vote, that would go against what the House majority wants and what the vast majority of the American people want.”

Representative Kevin Kelly said that a no vote goes against the will of the American people. (Scott Strazanti/Pool/Getty Images)

This political anxiety may be enough to force the parties to find some Christmas magic and address the issue before the holiday.

This is one of Congress’s Christmas texts.

But there is a provision for not fixing things too.

If Congress leaves town, every communications director on Capitol Hill will write a press release accusing the other side of cheating Ebenezer Scrooge, declaring “Bah bullshit!” Or throwing a lump of coal in voters’ stockings on Christmas.

Click here to download the FOX NEWS app

This is the scenario.

And every year he skates me.