- Obamacare Fight Could Threaten Shutdown Deal The Hill by Nathaniel Weixel — A fight over ObamaCare is spilling into Congress’s December agenda, threatening lawmakers’ ability to keep the government open. President Trump signed stopgap legislation Friday aimed at averting a shutdown and keeping the government funded through Dec. 22. The bill allows lawmakers to focus on the next — and seemingly more difficult — negotiating period. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have a host of priorities they want to include in the bill, but the question of funding ObamaCare’s cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments appears to have divided Republicans. Senate Republicans want to include the cost-sharing payments in the spending package, but House conservatives have little interest in funding subsidies they see as bailing out a law they despise. Senate Republican leaders view the payments as a necessary bargaining chip. In order to pass their tax-reform bill and get a much-needed legislative victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a deal with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key swing vote.
- Tax Bill Is Likely to Undo Health Insurance Mandate, Republicans Say New York Times by Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan — House and Senate negotiators thrashing out differences over a major tax bill are likely to eliminate the insurance coverage mandate at the heart of the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers say. But a deal struck by Senate Republican leaders and Senator Susan Collins of Maine to mitigate the effect of the repeal has been all but rejected by House Republicans, potentially jeopardizing Ms. Collins's final yes vote. "I don't think the American people voted for bailing out big insurance," said Representative Dave Brat, Republican of Virginia, who opposes a separate measure to lower insurance premiums that Ms. Collins thought she had secured.
- Health Care Lobbyists Not Optimistic on Changing GOP Tax Bill Modern Healthcare by Harris Meyer — Health care lobbyists are scrambling to win changes in congressional Republican tax legislation, as Senate and House GOP leaders race to merge their separate bills into something both chambers can pass on a party-line vote this month. But provider, insurer, and patient advocacy groups doubt they can convince Republicans to remove or soften the provisions they find most objectionable. They say GOP leaders are moving too fast and providing too little opportunity for health care stakeholders to provide input. "It's a madhouse," said Julius Hobson, a veteran healthcare lobbyist with the Polsinelli law firm. "What you worry about is this will get done behind closed doors, even before they start the conference committee process."