Expired Obamacare subsidy deal inches toward Senate floor vote amid bipartisan talks
A bipartisan group of senators is still working on a fix for the now-expired Obamacare subsidies and believe that they may be nearing a proposal that could hit the Senate...
By Fox News · Fox News
A bipartisan group of senators is still working on a fix for the now-expired Obamacare subsidies and believe that they may be nearing a proposal that could hit the Senate floor . The confab, which met a handful of times during Congress’ holiday break, adjourned once more behind closed doors on Monday night. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, are leading the talks among several Senate Republicans and Democrats looking for a compromise solution. Most who attended the meeting were tight-lipped on specifics of the still-simmering proposal, but Collins noted the plan was similar to the initial offering from her and Moreno. CONGRESS FAILS TO SAVE OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES AFTER SHUTDOWN FIGHT, PREMIUMS SET TO SURGE "Parts of the bill are similar to what Senator Moreno and I proposed originally, with a two-year extension, with some reforms in the first year and then more substantial reforms in the second year," she said. Their original plan — one of several floating around in the upper chamber — would have extended the subsidies by two years, put an income cap onto the credits for households making up to $200,000 and eliminated zero-cost premiums as a fraud preventive measure by requiring a $25 minimum monthly payment. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., one of the lawmakers who has routinely attended the meetings, said the talks were going well. "We had a really good discussion last night," Kaine said. "I don't want to characterize it other than we had a really good discussion." And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he had gotten an update on negotiations from Moreno Tuesday morning and believed that the bipartisan huddles had been productive. SEN JIM JUSTICE SAYS REPUBLICANS ARE 'LOUSY' AT KNOWING WHAT EVERYDAY AMERICANS THINK ABOUT HEALTHCARE Still, any plan that hits the floor has to hit several benchmarks for Republicans, including antifraud guardrails, a transition into health savings accounts (HSAs) and more stringent anti-abortion language. "…