This week in the U.S. House of Representatives: Jan. 4 – Jan. 8, 2016

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United States Capitol_ U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate

U.S. House lawmakers are back in Washington, D.C., this week to kick-off the second session of the 114th Congress.

This week the GOP-led Congress will make good on a 2010 promise: voting to repeal and replace Obamacare. The House is expected to vote to concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3762: the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act. This reconciliation bill was previously considered in the House and later the Senate, where it was amended slightly requiring this return to the House for what is likely final consideration.

The bill repeals or significantly modifies numerous major provisions of Obamacare, including repeals of the individual and employer mandates, tax subsidies for individuals to purchase health insurance from exchanges, the expansion of Medicaid, and the Prevention and Public Health Fund. It also effectively eliminates more than a dozen taxes included in the law, including the medical device tax, the “Cadillac” tax, the net investment tax, and the additional Medicare tax.

Finally the bill blocks federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year and provides alternative women’s health funding for community health centers. House passage of the measure would clear it for President Barack Obama who has said he will veto it

  • Alabama co-sponsor(s): N/A

Additional legislation on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives this week:

H.R. 1155: the Searching for and Cutting Regulations That Are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act. The bill establishes a nine-member commission to review existing federal regulations and identify those that should be repealed in order to reduce costs on the U.S. economy.

  • Alabama co-sponsor(s): N/A

H.R. 712: the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act. The bill requires the federal government to provide advance public notice when it plans to enter into discussions regarding consent decree or settlement agreement, allowing affected third parties to intervene in that process. It also requires federal agencies to file monthly status reports of their rule-making activities and requires that a 100-word summary of each proposed rule be posted online, along with the proposed rule itself.

  • Alabama co-sponsor(s): N/A

H.R. 1927: the Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act. The bill prohibits federal courts from certifying proposed classes of individuals for a class action lawsuit unless each member of the class has suffered the same type and degree of injury, and it requires quarterly reports by asbestos trusts of claims made against the trusts and any payouts made by the trusts for asbestos-related injuries.

  • Alabama co-sponsor(s): N/A

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