Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension, has been in talks with ranking member Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., about funding subsidies since early September. However, the pair has not come to an agreement on what concessions Democrats were willing to make, although ideas such as allowing states to waive ACA regulations were discussed.
With the fate of ACA markets thrown into question with President Trump’s announcement, Congressional leaders may return to the drawing board with renewed urgency.
“[Trump] rightfully put the burden where it belongs and that’s in Congress and Congress has to deal with this problem,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., according to The Hill. “If Congress doesn’t get it done, the people who suffer are the people back home.”
President Trump had the authority to end the payments, which his administration had been deciding on a month-to-month basis since he took office, because there had been no Congressional appropriation for the funds.
The U.S. House of Representatives sued President Barack Obama’s administration in 2014, because they considered the payments unconstitutional. Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court in Washington sided with the House and found Congress had never appropriated the money.
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