This Week on the Hill: House to Vote on Reconciliation; Senate Remains in Recess

While the Senate will remain in recess until Monday, January 11, a new year in Congress starts tomorrow as the House is scheduled to reconvene from its winter break. House lawmakers are set to begin on a highly partisan note with the consideration of the Senate-passed budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 3762) that would repeal key enforcement and financing provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion and the individual and employer mandates related to health coverage. A roll call vote for the bill is lined up for Wednesday and will likely pass along partisan lines and be sent to the White House, where the President is expected to issue a veto. With very limited support among Democrats, the bill will likely fall well short of the two-thirds majority necessary to override a presidential veto. 

The bill, which also defunds the women’s health organization Planned Parenthood, is a product of conservative Republican demands for more action on rolling back the president’s signature health care law and may be the first example of Congress’ developing role in shaping political discourse for this year’s presidential election. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has set out to communicate a clear Republican agenda ahead of November, and three additional measures that will be considered this week may have more value as political messages than as legislation that could be endorsed by President Obama and signed into law. The first of these measures is a bill (H.R. 1927) that would limit class-action litigation by making it harder for plaintiffs suing companies to combine their efforts into a single case. Also to be considered this week is a bill (H.R. 1155) that would create a federal commission to identify government regulations that should be rescinded because they are too much of a drain on the economy, and would require agencies to rescind old rules to make up for the economic cost of new regulation. Finally, the House will consider a bill (H.R. 712) that would require federal agencies to publish proposed consent decrees or settlements at least two months ahead of time and compile monthly reports on the nature and cost of upcoming rule makings.

‘This Week on the Hill’ includes updates provided by the House and Senate majority leaders, as well information derived from publications including Bloomberg Government, The Hill, Politico, Roll Call, and National Journal.