Senate Republicans will vote later this week on a plan to address expiring Obamacare subsidies, which threaten to surge health care premium payments for millions of Americans.
The only problem? They don't have one plan. They have several.
Three Republican senators came forward on Tuesday with their own plans. One pair, made up of Sens. Bill Cassidy and Mike Crapo, would shift those subsidies into payments to Americans' health savings accounts (HSAs).
Another plan put forward by Sen. Jon Husted would extend Obamacare subsidies for two years and implement a handful of reforms, including an income cap.
And then there's Sens. Susan Collins and Bernie Moreno, two other Republicans, who released a plan very similar to Husted's on Monday with some key differences such as a lack of abortion-related language.
In short: There isn't one path forward for the GOP. There are several.
Stuck in the middle are more than 20 million Americans who buy their health insurance on the Obamacare public exchanges and are watching Washington fight over their financial futures like a bad football game where there's big money on the line.
It remains to be seen if any of these plans can win enough Democrats on board to pass the Senate, where they'll need seven crossover votes to pass anything.
Some Democrats are still pushing various methods of extending the Obamacare plan subsidies. Few are likely willing to sign on to a plan to change those subsidies into HSA payments.
Tomorrow, the Senate GOP will huddle in a lunchtime meeting to chart a course. But the Jan. 1 deadline is quickly approaching, and soon Congress will face a reality of being forced to work over the holidays.
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