BREAKING: House Republicans Enacting So-Called ‘Martial Law’ Rule to Allow Same-Day Passage of Senate ObamaCare Repeal
ALERT: ObamaCare Repeal Could Be Law by Saturday
House Republican leaders are enacting a so-called “Martial Law” rule to allow them to discard regular parliamentary procedures and pass any ObamaCare repeal bill immediately after the Senate passes its version.
BREAKING: The House has invoked martial law. If the Senate passes skinny repeal, the House can vote on it without notice.
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 27, 2017
Martial law has been invoked in the past, for instance in 2015 to avoid a government shutdown. In other words, like the name suggests, it is a procedure of last measure, to be used only during situations requiring immediate action that without it dire circumstances would occur.Â
But in this case, House Republicans are seeking to strip tens of millions of Americans of their health care coverage.
A Senate GOP aide said that we are “operating under the assumption the House will pass the skinny as is tomorrow.”https://t.co/KIV7EczBWH
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 27, 2017
If the Senate passes an ObamaCare repeal bill Thursday or Friday, likely the “skinny” version that would kick 16 million Americans off their coverage, the House could immediately introduce the bill, “debate” it, and pass it by Saturday, according to Center for American Progress Action’s Deputy Director Igor Volsky.
Under martial law:
– bill can be voted on without even 1 day notice
– if Senate passes #SkinnyRepeal it could become law by Sat 4/4
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) July 27, 2017
Washington Post healthcare reporter Paige W. Cunningham notes the ObamaCare repeal vote could come before dawn Friday morning:
Hearing that vote on skinny repeal could happen around 4 or 5 a.m.
— Paige W. Cunningham (@pw_cunningham) July 27, 2017
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham has just announced a press conference for Thursday at 5:15 PM EDT:
Holding press conference with Ron Johnson and others at 5:15 pm RE: Skinny Repeal.
Senate Radio-TV Gallery
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 27, 2017
“Under the martial law procedure, long-standing House rules that require at least one day between the unveiling of significant legislation and the House floor vote on that legislation — so that Members can learn what they are being asked to vote on — are swept away,” Republican Rep. Michael Burgess wrote in 2008, when under Democratic leadership the House was preparing to enact the procedure. “Instead, under ‘martial law,’ the Leadership can file legislation with tens or hundreds of pages of fine print and move immediately to debate and votes on it, before Members of Congress, the media, or the public have an opportunity to understand fully what provisions have been altered or inserted into the legislation behind closed doors. This is the procedure that the Leadership intends to use to muscle through important bills in the next two days.”
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

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