Overnight Regulation: Senate GOP looking at how to repeal ObamaCare insurer rules | Dems raise concerns over bank regulator

Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill, the courts and beyond. It’s Thursday evening here in Washington and after this crazy week I think we’re all ready for Friday. 

 

THE BIG STORIES

Senate GOP targets insurer regs: Senate Republicans are looking for ways to toss out ObamaCare regulations that dictate what services must be covered by insurance plans.

As The Hill’s Peter Sullivan reports, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters Thursday that Republican senators are looking into repealing the provision. 

ObamaCare’s essential health benefits mandate that insurance plans cover a minimum set of services, such as prescription drugs and mental healthcare.

Republicans argue the mandate drives up costs.

“I think we’re going to leave it up to consumers to decide what they want to buy and what they need,” Cornyn said. 

But it is unclear whether Senate rules governing the fast-track reconciliation process being used by Republicans to repeal-and-replace ObamaCare would allow the essential health benefits mandate to be repealed. Reconciliation requires provisions be budget-related in order to be repealed using the process. 

The House-passed ObamaCare repeal and replace bill includes an amendment that would let states seek waivers for the essential benefits mandate.

But some conservatives are calling for states to be able to opt in to ObamaCare regulations, rather than opt out. Under that idea, a state could decide which ObamaCare regulations it wanted to keep or get rid of, including potentially essential health benefits as well as other provisions like community rating, which prevents insurers from charging premiums based on customers’ health.

Read Peter Sullivan’s full story here. 

 

Dems hit Treasury chief over banking regulator: Senate Democrats say a new banking regulator is inexperienced and hasn’t been properly vetted, reports The Hill’s Sylvan Lane.

Six Senate Banking Committee Democrats told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a letter Thursday that they were “deeply concerned” with his appointment of former Wall Street lawyer Keith Noreika to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) without Senate confirmation.

“You have chosen to replace the current head with an acting head who is unvetted, has obvious conflicts of interest, and lacks the experience to run [OCC],” wrote the senators.

The letter was signed by Banking Committee ranking member Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

Mnuchin appointed Noreika, who represented Wall Street banks as a lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, to be the OCC’s first deputy earlier this month. Noreika’s appointment lined him up to lead the OCC, which oversees the U.S. banking system, once Trump ousted former chief Thomas Curry.

Trump removed Curry on May 5, making Noreika the interim OCC chief. His ascent is considered highly unusual, since Trump hasn’t nominated a replacement for Curry yet and the interim chief is usually a veteran staff member, not a special government employee.

Click here for more.

 

TOMORROW’S REGS TODAY 

In tomorrow’s edition of the Federal Register: 

In Friday’s edition of the Federal Register, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is proposing a new safety standard to make table saws safer.

CPSC said emergency rooms treated 33,400 table saw-related injuries in 2015, and 92 percent were likely related to the victim making contact with the saw blade. 

Under the proposed rule, manufacturers will have to limit how deep the saw can cut to 3.5 millimeters in tests when a fake human body part comes in contact with the spinning blade at a radial approach of 1 meter per second.

The proposed rule would address an estimated 54,800 medically treated blade-contact injuries annually. The agency estimates the rule could produce annual benefits between $625 million to about $2.3 billion in injuries prevented.

The rule is expected to cost industry between $170 million to $345 million annually. The public has 75 days to comment on the proposed rule.

 

NEWS RIGHT NOW 

Liberal group: Trump 6th Circuit nominee ‘incredibly troubling’ 

EPA chief: Obama was no ‘environmental savior’ 

Lawsuits are piling up against Trump 

Cable industry poll: Majority support net neutrality rules

Pro-net neutrality group skeptical of FCC cyber attack claim

Donald Trump has no idea what health insurance costs – Vox 

U.S. judge in D.C. signals readiness to become third to order halt to revised Trump travel ban – The Washington Post 

U.S. candymakers band together to reduce calories – Reuters 

 

BY THE NUMBERS 

7: Proposed rules 

11: Final rules 

(Source: Thursday’s Federal Register.)

 

We’ll work to stay on top of these and other stories throughout the week, so check The Hill’s Regulation page (http://digital-staging.thehill.com/regulation) early and often for the latest. And send any comments, complaints or regulatory news tips our way, tdevaney@digital-staging.thehill.com or lwheeler@digital-staging.thehill.com. And follow us at @timdevaney and @wheelerlydia.

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