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.

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. 

But in this case, House Republicans are seeking to strip tens of millions of Americans of their health care coverage.

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.

Washington Post healthcare reporter Paige W. Cunningham notes the ObamaCare repeal vote could come before dawn Friday morning:

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham has just announced a press conference for Thursday at 5:15 PM EDT:

“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.