The Speaker's Lobby: What Congress' December script means for healthcare next year
This December on Capitol Hill appears to follow a familiar script.There’s a deadline for Congress to act on (insert issue here). And if lawmakers don’t move by January 1, then...
By Fox News · Fox News
This December on Capitol Hill appears to follow a familiar script. There’s a deadline for Congress to act on (insert issue here). And if lawmakers don’t move by January 1, then (insert consequence here). So, everyone on Capitol Hill clamors over pathways to finish (given issue). Lawmakers and staff are at the end of their wits. Everyone is worried about Congress successfully fixing the problem and getting everyone home for the holidays. There’s always the concern that Congress will emerge as The Grinch, pilfering Whoville of Christmas toys. But lawmakers often wind up toiling with the diligence and efficiency of Santa’s elves, plowing through late night, overnight and weekend sessions – usually finishing (insert issue here) in the St. Nick of time. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THURSDAY'S BIG SENATE VOTES ON HEALTHCARE This pattern is always the same. With few variations. This parliamentary dance of the sugar plum fairies frequently centers on deadlines for government funding, the debt ceiling and tax policy. Such was the case when the Senate passed the first version of Obamacare on Christmas Eve morning, 2009. Republicans skated on thin ice to finish their tax reform package in December 2017. Lawmakers moved expeditiously to approve a defense policy bill in late 2020. Then made sure they had just enough time on the calendar to override President Trump’s veto of the legislation before the very end of the 116th Congress in early January 2021. The deadlines sometimes veer into the political. There was a crush to finish articles of impeachment on the House floor for both Presidents Clinton and Trump in December 1998 and December 2019, respectively. And so after everyone got this fall’s government shutdown worked out of their systems, lawmakers were far from prepared to address its root cause. Democrats refused to fund the government unless Congress addressed spiking healthcare premiums. Those premiums shoot up on January 1. And no one has built enough consensus to pass a…