Key conservative likely to support GOP budget because of O-Care repeal

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Tuesday he’s likely to support the newly unveiled budget because of its language to repeal ObamaCare.

Jordan, who describes himself as one of Congress’s most conservative members, told reporters he believes many of his hard-line conservative colleagues will support the House Budget Committee’s proposal because of its use of a budget tool reconciliation to repeal ObamaCare.

{mosads}“I think reconciliation language will be a motivating reason for I think many of us to lean toward supporting the budget,” Jordan said during a panel of conservatives.

While Jordan said he has not read the proposal in full, he said he is optimistic after his earlier conversations with Budget Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.).

There had been some concerns that fiscal conservatives would oppose the House GOP budget because they sought deeper cuts in spending. But if the budget does not pass both chambers, the GOP will not get a chance to use reconciliation.

Jordan added that he hopes reconciliation — which helps the GOP to bypass a filibuster in the Senate — will keep ObamaCare “front and center” ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign.

House committees will have broad leeway over how to write their reconciliation bills, though Price told reporters Tuesday that repealing ObamaCare would be a major priority for the chairmen.

GOP aides say reconciliation is an increasingly attractive option to avert the healthcare meltdown that could result from a ruling this June against ObamaCare in the King v. Burwell case. They say the tool could help deliver a bill to President Obama’s desk outlining their party’s response to the court case.

A ruling against the administration could take away subsidies from people in 37 states, many of them led by GOP governors, who signed up for insurance using federal exchanges.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) stressed that reconciliation should be used to fully repeal ObamaCare — not just create a fix if the Supreme Court rules against the healthcare law’s subsidies this June. 

“I know there’s been some talk about using that to fix ObamaCare if there’s an adverse decision in [King v. Burwell],” he said. “But I think it’s best to proceed with a full repeal.”