So back in December, @JonWalkerDC wrote a piece for us showing that the threat to the Affordable Care Act from litigation before the Supreme Court could be neutralized with a one-line bill. Since that's more important than ever, we re-ran that today.
prospect.org/health/pelosi-…
The lawsuit says that if the individual mandate is $0 it's not a tax, therefore the whole bill must fall.
It's a dumb lawsuit.
But the solution is: repeal the individual mandate. No mandate, no lawsuit.
There's an active fight right now over the must-pass government funding bill. McConnell wants money for a farm bailout in it. Pelosi could demand this one-line rider go in, to save the ACA.
This could happen right now, but we've been arguing this since *December*
It could have gone in the first coronavirus bill. Or the second. Or the third. Or the fourth. It could have gone into any must-pass bill over the past two years. There was no reason to put the ACA at risk, and there still isn't. Read the piece.
prospect.org/health/pelosi-…
Even if you believe that McConnell and the GOP would rather shut down the government than give up a shot at killing Obamacare, the way that would have to do it here—by opposing the repeal of the individual mandate—would be political gold for Democrats.
Any member of the House could at least file this amendment to the government funding bill, and put pressure on the Rules Committee, which is in Pelosi's pocket, to put it up for a vote. Who's going to decide to save healthcare for 20 million people?
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