Lawmakers stake out positions on President's plan, pursue legislative steps

Nov 16 2013

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, signaled his intent to bring a bill by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., to the floor for a vote. Republican leaders expect the bill, which is viewed by the administration as an effort to undo the health law, to pass easily on a largely party-line vote. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says Democrats have their own legislative plan. And, in the Senate, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., applauded the president's step, but maintains that further legislative action is needed.

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Boehner: Health Law Needs Legislative Fix
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said he would press ahead with a House vote Friday on a bill designed to help people whose health insurance policies have recently been cancelled, even though President Barack Obama announced a plan Thursday to accomplish a similar goal without legislation (Hook, 11/14).

The Associated Press: Boehner: Only Health Care Fix Is To Scrap Law
House Speaker John Boehner says the only way to fix President Barack Obama's health care law is to scrap it entirely. Boehner says the law has forced health coverage to be canceled and the costs of premiums to rise. He says the Obama administration can't be trusted on the issue(11/14).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Landrieu Welcomes Obama Action On Health Law, Remains Open To Pushing Legislation
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.), principal author of legislation to address the problem of individual health insurance policies being cancelled, said she welcomed President Barack Obama's Thursday announcement on the issue but that further legislative action may still be needed. "The president's announcement was a great first step," said Ms. Landrieu. "We will probably need legislation to make it stick." Still, Ms. Landrieu did not promise a major push to force action on her bill. And she suggested that the president's action could have broad ramifications (Hook, 11/14).

Politico: Senate Democrats Not Fully Satisfied With Obamacare Fix
Senate Democrats are still considering legislation to repair President Barack Obama's broken Obamacare promise, despite the White House plans for an administrative fix. Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) still want to see votes on their separate, alternative proposals aimed at helping Americans who lost insurance plans. Several of the other Democrats who are up for reelection in 2014 want to vote on a legislative fix, too (Everett, Kim and Haberkorn, 11/14).

Politico: Democrats Not Likely To Back House GOP Obamacare Bill
House Democrats say that President Barack Obama's move to address a broken promise of Obamacare should prevent large numbers of defections on a GOP bill coming to a vote Friday that addresses the wave of health insurance cancellations. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the chief vote-counter for House Democrats, said a "large part" of the Democratic Caucus would vote against the GOP bill called the "Keep Your Health Plan Act." Democratic leaders had earlier feared up to 100 members might vote for the bill sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (Haberkorn and Kim, 11/14).

Politico: Nancy Pelosi: House Democrats Have Own Obamacare Plan
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Congressional Democrats are hoping to vote on their own plan to address the mass health insurance cancellations associated with Obamacare. She called it a "belt and suspenders" approach that would reinforce, but is not intended to compete with the administrative fix announced by President Barack Obama on Thursday (Haberkorn and Delreal, 11/14).

Roll Call: House Democrats Eye New 'If You Like It' Obamacare Fix
House Democratic leaders, in a bid to keep frustrated rank-and-file members from supporting a Republican bill to remedy the White House's broken "if you like it, you can keep it" promise, are mobilizing around a new legislative fix. As Democrats huddled in a closed-door caucus meeting Thursday afternoon with Obama administrative officials, leaders decided they would go to the House floor on Friday with a new plan to counter the bill sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., a House Democratic leadership aide confirmed to CQ Roll Call (Dumain, 11/14).

The Hill: Health Vote Puts Dems In Pickle
The House will vote Friday on a GOP bill allowing insurance companies to continue offering consumers their existing, limited plans under President Obama's health care law. Republican leaders hope the bill, which is expected to pass easily on a largely partisan vote, will raise pressure on the White House over the botched rollout of Obamacare (Lillis, 11/15).