Democrats could foil GOP plans to defund the healthcare reform law next year by passing in the current lame-duck session an omnibus spending bill funding specific reforms through next year, according to a report by the Hill.
Democrats have not announced their strategy for budget appropriations in the lame-duck session, but Phil Kerpen of the conservative Americans for Prosperity warned Republicans need to be wary of how the omnibus bill is used.
"An omnibus appropriation bill would create unencumbered budget authority for the major agencies and programs [in the reform law]," he said. "Even if Republicans zero out funding for moving forward on a lot of these things, funding would still be available under existing budget authority from the omnibus."
Defunding is seen as the key strategy to push back the reforms. President Obama would likely veto a repeal and even a partial repeal could produce billions of dollars in costs that would need to be offset.
The defunding strategy would target specific spending authorizations for 2011, such as $3.862 billion for Federally Qualified Health Centers, $100 million in grants to states to improve quality and efficiency of care and $128 million for primary care training.
Read the Hill report on healthcare reform.
Read more coverage of efforts to repeal healthcare reforms:
- GOP Strategist Targets Parts of Reform Law, Including Assignment to ACOs
- Drive to Repeal Health Reform Raises Hopes to End Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals
- Senate Republicans Seeking Democratic Allies to Repeal Reform Law
Democrats have not announced their strategy for budget appropriations in the lame-duck session, but Phil Kerpen of the conservative Americans for Prosperity warned Republicans need to be wary of how the omnibus bill is used.
"An omnibus appropriation bill would create unencumbered budget authority for the major agencies and programs [in the reform law]," he said. "Even if Republicans zero out funding for moving forward on a lot of these things, funding would still be available under existing budget authority from the omnibus."
Defunding is seen as the key strategy to push back the reforms. President Obama would likely veto a repeal and even a partial repeal could produce billions of dollars in costs that would need to be offset.
The defunding strategy would target specific spending authorizations for 2011, such as $3.862 billion for Federally Qualified Health Centers, $100 million in grants to states to improve quality and efficiency of care and $128 million for primary care training.
Read the Hill report on healthcare reform.
Read more coverage of efforts to repeal healthcare reforms:
- GOP Strategist Targets Parts of Reform Law, Including Assignment to ACOs
- Drive to Repeal Health Reform Raises Hopes to End Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals
- Senate Republicans Seeking Democratic Allies to Repeal Reform Law