Republicans hoping to use a little-known rule to repeal the Affordable Care Act may have hit a snag.
The Hill newspaper reports through GOP sources that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has raised concerns about GOP inquiries to use a little-known tool called budget reconciliation to overturn the law.
Budget reconciliation, also known as the Byrd Rule for former Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, is intended to allow Congress to change current laws to bring revenue, spending, and debt-limit levels into conformity with the policies of the annual budget resolution, according to the Senate Rules Committee.
The committee says it has not been used in every year that the congressional budget has been in effect and was originally used for deficit-reduction efforts.
Under budget reconciliation, a rule can pass the Senate with 51 votes, and the GOP was hoping to repeal the Act this way, preventing a potential Democratic filibuster.
If the ACA cannot be overturned using this procedure, it would have to be overturned piece-by-piece.
