The 5-Minute Fix: What Republicans could do on Obamacare

…For the past decade or so, the party in power has resorted to a procedural tool called reconciliation to pass bills without dealing with the other side.

There are limitations to this work-around, said Jeremy Dalrymple, who worked as a Republican staffer in the Senate to repeal and replace the ACA in Trump’s first term and is now with the R Street Institute, a [free market] think tank. Reconciliation bills can only be budget-related and can’t last forever; the legislation has to end after several years.

When Democrats extended the subsidies during the pandemic, they did so under reconciliation, which meant it could  last only five years — until the end of 2025.

Republicans let these subsidies expire to help pay for Trump’s tax bill but now say they want to do something about spiraling costs. Unless they get Democratic buy-in, what they end up doing will likely be similarly limited in scope and time frame.