Senate's GOP tax reform bill seeks repeal of Obamacare individual mandate

The decision means that Republicans, yet again in 2017, will attempt to gut a key element of the Affordable Care Act. So far, such efforts have failed because not enough Republican senators have backed the idea of repealing the mandate, which would lead to an estimated 13 million more people lacking health insurance.

"We're optimistic that inserting individual mandate repeal would be helpful," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. on Tuesday afternoon after a lunch meeting with the Republican conference.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said, "I'm pleased the Senate Finance Committee has accepted my proposal to repeal the Obamacare individual mandate in the tax legislation."

"Repealing the mandate pays for more tax cuts for working families and protects them from being fined by the IRS for not being able to afford insurance that Obamacare made unaffordable in the first place," Cotton said. I urge the House to include the mandate repeal in their tax legislation.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Tex., said, "We're going to repeal the tax on poor Americans."

Cornyn said the majority of people who pay the individual mandate tax penalty for not having insurance have lower incomes. Sen. John Thune, R-SD, told the Washington Post that there are 50 Republican senators willing to support the mandate-repealing tax reform bill. That would be enough to pass it, with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence.

Thune also said the deal agreed upon is to pass that bill alongside another bill, known as Alexander-Murray, which would restore key federal subsidy reimbursements to Obamacare insurers cut off last month by President Donald Trump.[An insurance agent from Sunshine Life and Health Advisors, speaks with a woman shopping for insurance under the Affordable Care Act at a store setup in the Mall of Americas on November 1, 2017 in Miami, Florida.]
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An insurance agent from Sunshine Life and Health Advisors, speaks with a woman shopping for insurance under the Affordable Care Act at a store setup in the Mall of Americas on November 1, 2017 in Miami, Florida.The Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer of New York, was scornful of the Republican decision.

"Thelma and Louise are warming up the car," Schumer said, referring to the eponymous movie that ends with two women driving their car off a very tall cliff to their deaths."They're cutting taxes on the wealthy and taking health care from millions and raising premiums on millions of others all to reduce taxes on the rich," said Schumer.

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