Yes, the headline is right. Republicans are actually blocking a Democratic effort to repeal a portion of the health care law, the so-called 1099 provision which will raise tax revenue by $19 billion by requiring business to file paperwork for every payment over $600 to a vendor. Politico:
Another day, another failed attempt at 1099 repeal.
Republicans rebuffed a Democratic effort to repeal health reform’s universally panned 1099 IRS reporting requirements as a piggyback in the tax cut deal, congressional aides on both sides of the aisle confirm to POLITICO.
GOPers claim they can't support a repeal of the 1099 provision unless spending cuts offset the $19 billion in tax revenue that would be lost if the provision were repealed. But that's more than a little bit absurd given that they aren't insisting on any offsets for any other element of the tax cut deal's nearly $1 trillion price tag.
The reality is that Republicans don't want to repeal the 1099 provision because they know it's unpopular -- and they want Democrats to pay a political price for having passed it. Given that Democrats have now acknowledged the provision was a mistake and want to repeal it, the GOP position is the height of cynicism: thrusting bad policy on the country for no other reason than inflict political damage on their opponents. And as a result we witness the strange spectacle of Republicans blocking a Democratic effort to repeal part of the health care law.