What Senate Democrats Support
In case you hadn’t seen it, yesterday all 47 Senate Democrats supported a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval offered by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), which would have overturned the Marketplace Integrity rule that the Trump Administration finalized last June. I had written about this resolution late last year, when it looked like it would get a vote before Christmas, but the vote was delayed until this week.
That said, yesterday’s vote still did much to reveal Democrats’ policy preferences. By supporting the Warner resolution, Democrats demonstrated what they support:
- “They/Them:” The Trump rule prohibits states from including transgender procedures as an essential health benefit, helping to prevent taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies from funding these procedures. By voting to overturn the Trump rule, Senate Democrats showed that they are for taxpayer funding of sex-change operations, just like Kamala Harris.
- Care for Undocumented Immigrants: The rule also overturned a Biden-era policy that allowed DACA recipients to qualify for Obamacare subsidies, a policy that a federal judge found unlawful in December 2024. By voting to overturn the Trump rule, Senate Democrats showed that they are for taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants.
- Fraud: As I noted last month, the Marketplace Integrity rule contained many common-sense anti-fraud provisions, including 1) requiring $5 monthly premium payments for people who don’t re-verify their income and personal details every year, 2) requiring subsidy recipients to file their taxes every year (so the IRS can verify whether people received the correct amount of subsidies), and 3) requiring verification of “special enrollment periods” when people try to buy Exchange coverage in the middle of the year. By voting to overturn the Trump rule, Senate Democrats showed that they will not take steps to combat rampant fraud.
Reports about a “deal” notwithstanding, Democrats just showed they are NOT serious either about combatting fraud, or reaching a serious compromise on the enhanced subsidies. And as I noted last week, there’s an obvious analogy here for those Republicans desperate for a deal…