Congress has had mixed responses to President Obama's
announcement of an executive fix to the issue of health care policy cancellations. These reactions give some clue as to whether there will be any legislative fixes in the works.
For the most part, Republicans have been silent. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was about the only Senate Republican to say anything, and he gave a tepid thumbs up, calling it a "good move." Thus far, the only response from House Speaker John Boehner was not a response, but a preemption based on early leaked reports. He said the House would proceed with a vote Friday on the Upton bill that would allow insurance companies to keep selling crappy plans to new customers because the solution is to "scrap this law once and for all." For her part, Nancy Pelosi says that Democrats in the House will offer an alternative plan to the Upton bill, calling it "a 'belt and suspenders' approach that would reinforce, but is not intended to compete with the administrative fix announced by President Barack Obama on Thursday."
Most of the Democratic response to the issue has been from senators up for reelection in 2014, spearheaded by Mary Landrieu. For her part, Landrieu still wants her bill to get a vote, stressing how important the law is: "But for the first time in the history of the country under the Affordable Care Act, middle class and hard working families, entrepreneurs, and small businesses will have access to affordable, quality health care that's there when they need it most. And that is certainly something worth fighting for." She's joined by Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), who says the fix isn't sufficient because it only lasts one year. Another co-sponsor of Landrieu's bill, Sen. Jeff Merkley is mostly satisfied with the adminstration's fix. He told Greg Sargent that—for now—he doesn't see the need for a legislative fix.
More importantly, Senate leadership doesn't that see that need. Sen. Dick Durbin has said a legislative fix isn't needed and a senior Democratic Senate aide says the Landrieu bill and a similar one from Mark Udall (D-CO) are dead: "No reason for a legislative fix at this point."
Legislation is also probably dead because even when the Upton bill is passed in the House Friday, the Senate won't take it up and if it did, it wouldn't pass. Likewise, the Landrieu bill wouldn't pass in the House because Republicans will be opposed it. So nothing could move forward legislatively right now, anyway.
At this point, the executive fix is the only game in town, which isn't a bad thing politically, because it does put the onus back on insurance companies for cancellations. And the larger issue of getting the website functioning fully is still the most important thing the administration can do. Because when it's functioning, and when people can start getting that good, affordable health care the law promises, much of this will (eventually) be forgotten.