The House will see its three-year extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies return much sooner than anticipated after the chamber accidentally sent the wrong version of the bill text to the Senate.
The lower chamber voted to extend the COVID-19-era subsidies on Jan. 8, with several Republicans joining all Democrats to pass the bill. It has been sitting in the Senate for a week, as a bipartisan group of senators tries to negotiate a deal that will likely see more reforms and a shorter extension window.
However, the House needs the bill back because the text sent over to the Senate by the House clerk did not include an updated amendment offered by Democrats and approved on the House floor. Instead, the clerk sent over the original bill text, which was a placeholder for the petition that forced a vote on extending the subsidies.
The text change was called an “amendment in the nature of a substitute,” allowing lawmakers to replace the entirety of an already pending bill or resolution with a newer, complete version. It effectively becomes a new bill while using the old bill’s number, and lets lawmakers speed up the process of getting legislation to the floor with fewer hurdles.
On Tuesday, the House approved a resolution from Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) that calls on the House clerk to “request the Senate to return to the House” the bill. The Senate will need to act, likely by unanimous consent, to send the papers back to the House so the mistake can be corrected.
First reported by correspondent Jamie Dupree, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made a unanimous consent request on Wednesday that the Senate pass the House bill when the chamber “receives H.R. 1834 as passed by the House on January 8th.”
