Senate GOP leaders are reportedly trying to win over moderates to revive an Obamacare repeal and replace bill – hoping the pressure to take action will be enough to get conservative senators on board.
The strategy emerged Thursday with leaders' willingness to scrap a cut on the capital gains tax rate on the wealthy from 23.8 percent to 20 percent, several unnamed GOP senators told The Hill.
Removing the cut would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue to increase tax credits for low-income families, beef up the stabilization fund, and enhance Medicaid payments, The Hill reported.
"Leaving the burden on the low-income and at the same time repealing that 3.8 percent is not an appropriate way going about dealing with this issue, and leadership is attempting to address that," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Thursday, per The Hill. "I'm actually very confident that's going to be addressed."
Republican leaders have also indicated a willingness to dramatically increase a $62 billion fund that would help low-income individuals with high healthcare costs buy insurance, The Hill reported.
Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, suggested the fund would give states more control.
"That's going to be an important part of this," he said. "What it represents is a devolution of power and money from Washington back to the states. So, the states are going to have a lot of resources and a lot of flexibility."
Another change aimed at centrists would add $45 billion to fight opioid abuse – and The Hill reported there are also suggestions Senators want to use the House formula for indexing the growth of Medicaid, which would make the bill more expensive but lower cuts to the program.
Centrists are also pushing for a longer phase out of federal dollars that allowed 31 states to expand Medicaid.
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