WASHINGTON― Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are warning that a provision “defunding” Planned Parenthood could doom the GOP’s Obamacare replacement plan in the Senate because the language violates a key rule about what can be legislated with a simple majority vote. The “Byrd rule,” named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), requires that if a provision’s budgetary effect is “merely incidental” to a budget bill, it does not qualify for the fast-tracked reconciliation process in the Senate. The Congressional Budget Office confirmed in an analysis this week that the anti-abortion language in the American Health Care Act would only affect Planned Parenthood, even though the legislation does not specifically name the provider. “The CBO report confirms what is already well known: Planned Parenthood is singled out for discrimination in Trumpcare for purely ideological reasons,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told The Huffington Post. “The simple reality is that Republicans do not have the 60 votes in the Senate they need to pass a bill that repeals all of Obamacare and replace it with a new conservative health care system designed from scratch.”

Source: Huffington Post March 15, 2017 21:45 UTC