GOP senator offers deal on ObamaCare

“If Senate Republican leaders publicly commit to using budget reconciliation this year to repeal Obamacare, I will join that effort and withdraw my plan for a vote tonight,” Lee said in a statement on Monday evening. 

 

{mosads}The Utah Republican had previously threatened to try to link repealing President Obama’s signature healthcare law to the highway bill.

 

Lee’s office suggested last week that the senator would try to use arcane Senate procedure to link the two issues, a move that would likely torpedo an already challenged highway bill. 

 

Under the plan, the Utah Republican is expecting the Senate chair to rule an ObamaCare amendment as “non-germane.” Lee would then try to overturn the ruling of the chair, which requires a simple majority vote. 

 

It’s unclear if Lee could be successful. Both the Utah Republican and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) both tried to overturn the ruling of the chair during a rare Sunday session and were unable to get the support of the roughly 10 senators needed to force a roll call vote on the issue. 

 

Senators also defeated an amendment to repeal ObamaCare on Sunday. While the measure faced a 60-vote threshold, it also failed to get the backing of a simple majority of lawmakers.

 

While Republicans have weighed using reconciliation, Senate rules offers some restrictions. Reconciliation is also required to reduce the deficit, while the Congressional Budget Office says repealing ObamaCare actually increases the deficit. 

 

But Lee said Monday that “I believe the reconciliation option is a far superior strategy because it has the potential to pass both houses of Congress and reach the president’s desk – which has been my goal all along.” 

Lee’s move comes after a staffer for the senator emailed outside groups suggesting that they score how senators vote on the Utah Republican’s push to get ObamaCare repealed with a simple majority. 

Conn Carroll, Lee’s communications director, sought to distance the Utah senator from the email, saying that “this email is not how Sen. Lee does business.” 

“As soon as Sen. Lee found out about the email he contacted McConnell, met with him, and apologized,” he added. 

Republicans, including Lee, remained largely tight-lipped leaving a meeting Monday evening, where the email was discussed

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters that “I was encouraged by him saying that he was considering withdrawing his amendment. That would be a positive result.” 

Asked about incident, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) declined to comment, saying that “well I’m not going to talk about that.” 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stopped short of saying that Lee apologized, saying he “wouldn’t go down that road.”

“I think that’s probably been resolved,” Graham added to reporters. “Senator Lee said that wasn’t his doing and I take his word for it, and I think he’ll handle it responsibly.” 

Story updated at 10:24 p.m.