John Cassidy: “Even if the Republican conferees can reach an agreement on these provisions, there are two explosive non-tax issues that need to be resolved: the fate of the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, and the legal protections afforded to people who were brought to this country as undocumented immigrants when they were children—the “Dreamers.” Senate Republican leaders, in their drive to get to fifty-one votes, made pledges regarding these issues to two key senators: Susan Collins, of Maine, who helped defeat the G.O.P. effort to repeal Obamacare; and Jeff Flake, of Arizona, who is a fierce critic of President Trump.”
“At this stage, it is by no means clear that the G.O.P. leaders will be able to deliver on the pledges they made to Collins and Flake, which are already coming under fire from some ultra-conservatives in the House… Getting the members of the Freedom Caucus and the likes of Collins and Flake to agree on anything won’t be easy, and, for procedural reasons, the members of the conference committee won’t have much freedom to maneuver.”
Important: Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) office said that Ryan “is not part of a deal to get Obamacare fixes passed before the end of the year,” according to The Hill.
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