“Republicans have only one month to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare through the process by which they tried and failed earlier this summer.
According to a Friday ruling from the Senate parliamentarian, the window to pass an Obamacare-repeal bill through the process known as budget reconciliation will close at the end of September.
Reconciliation allows a bill to pass with a simple majority of votes and bypass a potential filibuster in the Senate as long as it lowers the federal budget deficit. Since Republicans have only a 52-seat majority in the Senate, any repeal bill needs to proceed through reconciliation — or get Democrats to come on board.
The parliamentarian, who settles debates on Senate rules and procedure, ruled that the current reconciliation resolution used during the previous Republican attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare will expire when the fiscal year 2017 budget expires at the end of the month.
Given the struggle to pass the previous Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill and the slew of other must-pass legislation scheduled for September, it seems unlikely the GOP could mount a successful effort.