THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

Daily Leader

For Immediate Release:

2017-01-24T00:00:00

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House Meets At:	First Vote Predicted:	Last Vote Predicted:
10:00 a.m.: Morning Hour 12:00 p.m.: Legislative Business Fifteen “One Minutes”	1:30 – 2:30 p.m.	4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

H.Res. 55 – Rule Providing for Consideration of H.R. 7 – No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2017 (Rep. Smith (NJ) – Energy and Commerce/Ways and Means/Judiciary) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided between the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their respective designees. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Ms. Slaughter of New York to consider H.R. 7 under an open Rule. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.R. 7 – No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2017 (Rep. Smith (NJ) – Energy and Commerce/Ways and Means/Judiciary) (One Hour of Debate). This bill would permanently prohibit the use of federal funds to pay for any abortion services or abortion coverage. Identical legislation passed the House in January of 2015. That vote can be found here.

The bill prohibits individuals and small businesses from claiming tax credits for any private insurance plans purchased through Affordable Care Act Marketplaces that include abortion coverage - despite the fact that current law already requires that federal funds, including premium tax credits, cannot be spent on abortion services. The effect of these changes would likely lead to a vast number of women losing access to comprehensive insurance coverage, as small business owners would be incentivized to offer plans that do not cover abortion. The bill provides no exception for cases in which the health of the mother would be endangered by carrying the pregnancy to term.

This bill would also further undermine the District of Columbia's home rule, prohibiting them from using District funds to offer abortion services.

Although this bill is advertised as reinforcing existing law, in truth, H.R. 7 goes beyond current law. It applies the federal tax code to the issue of abortion and restricts the private insurance choices that consumers have today.

Bill Text for H.R. 7:
PDF Version

Suspensions (3 bills)

H.R. 589– Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act, as amended (Rep. Smith (TX) – Science, Space, and Technology)
H.R. 600– Digital GAP Act (Rep. Royce – Foreign Affairs)
H.R. 601– READ Act (Rep. Lowey – Foreign Affairs)

The Daily Quote
“Experts say breaking a [ACA] replacement into smaller pieces could set up some of those pieces for failure—and they could take the whole enterprise down with them… Because Republicans don’t know what the specific elements of their policy proposal will be, they don’t know how politically controversial those elements will be. But if certain pieces of a piecemeal strategy fail, the rest might not work and insurance markets could descend into a ‘death spiral.’” — National Journal, 1/23/2017

The Daily Quote

“Experts say breaking a [ACA] replacement into smaller pieces could set up some of those pieces for failure—and they could take the whole enterprise down with them… Because Republicans don’t know what the specific elements of their policy proposal will be, they don’t know how politically controversial those elements will be. But if certain pieces of a piecemeal strategy fail, the rest might not work and insurance markets could descend into a ‘death spiral.’”

— National Journal, 1/23/2017