The Hill by Jordain Carney 4/21/2017
President Trump's budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, said Friday that the White House is offering Democrats money for key ObamaCare payments in exchange for money to help fund the president's proposed border wall.
"We'd offer them $1 of CSR payments for $1 of wall payments. Right now that's the offer that we've given to our Democratic colleagues," Mulvaney said during a Bloomberg Live interview, referring to the insurance company reimbursements known as cost-sharing reduction (CSR).
Mulvaney added that the administration had "finally boiled this negotiation down to" the border wall and the cost-reduction payments, which offset costs for insurers who cover ObamaCare's low-income enrollees.
Lawmakers have through April 28 to enact legislation to avoid a government shutdown, but they appear to be increasingly at an impasse.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer's (D-N.Y.) office immediately shot down a deal to exchange the ObamaCare payments for funding for Trump's border wall, calling it as a "nonstarter."
"The White House gambit to hold hostage health care for millions of Americans, in order to force American taxpayers to foot the bill for a wall that the President said would be paid for by Mexico is a complete nonstarter," said Matt House, a spokesman for Schumer.
He added that "if the administration would drop their eleventh-hour demand for a wall that Democrats – and a good number of Republicans – oppose, congressional leaders could quickly reach a deal."
More:
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/329961-mulvaney-white-house-offering-trade-on-obamacare-border-wall
