After months of rumors and anticipation, the Senate finally unveiled on June 22, 2017 its ACA repeal bill; named the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” (BCRA). The Senate bill is similar, but not identical, to the House bill that was recently passed.
As you may recall, we last left off with Congress as the House had just passed legislation to repeal and replace the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA). The “American Health Care Act of 2017” (AHCA; H.R. 1628) passed the House by a narrow vote in early May. The focus then shifted to the Senate. Senate leaders have been working behind the scenes to come up with their version of health care legislation to repeal and replace the ACA.
The Senate has now unveiled its repeal bill and rather than go through the normal committee process, the bill will move directly to the Senate floor where debate will soon be scheduled to take place – likely next week. Some amendments might be made to the bill, and the Senate leadership hopes to have the bill voted on by the end of next week (before the Fourth of July recess). If the bill passes the Senate, it would then move to a House-Senate Conference.
As in the House, the Republicans hold a narrow margin in the Senate, so they can only afford to lose two senators (assuming no Democrats support the bill) in trying to pass this bill. Several Republicans have already indicated they won’t support this bill, so some changes or amendments may be needed to the bill to secure their votes. Thus, there will be more political drama to be played out with this legislation, and perhaps sparks will fly (some early fireworks) in the Capitol.
This Senate bill is a complex and detailed piece of legislation, but here are a few of the tax highlights from the bill, along with some comparisons to the House bill:
Look for another close vote in the Senate. We will see what happens, and provide updates as needed. Stay Tuned . .
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