Democrats And Republicans Find Common Ground On ‘Tweaking’ Health Reform’s 1099 Provision

[dkf]

In the day since Democrats lost their majority in the House and suffered several setbacks in the Senate, President Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have suggested that they would be open to “tweaking” or revisiting parts of the Affordable Care Act. Republican leaders continue to advocate for complete repeal of the law, promising to replace it with “common sense” proposals from their Pledge To America.

This evening, during an interview on ABC News, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reiterated that Democrats would work to preserve the core of the law, but said that they could willing to compromise with Republicans on the so-called 1099 reporting requirement. Members of both parties have argued that this portion of the law — which was designed to bolster the tax compliance of sole proprietors and pay for coverage expansion — is overly burdensome to small business. Obama specifically mentioned the provision during his press conference today and Pelosi echoed his comments tonight :

PELOSI: So, I– I don’t– I don’t– think they’re going to take health care apart. There are certain parts of it that we all may want to review– one way or another. Put it out there. But the fundamentals of it, you know, when we have our patients’ bill of rights about– no preexisting conditions, and those provisions, they are– they cannot be there unless you have this basic structure of health care reform.
So, when we have this debate piece by piece, I think the American people will see how they like pieces of it, and how they relate to each other. And that some of that– you know, at 1099, it was a center provision. We didn’t like it in the House. The President mentioned it today. We’ve already passed on the floor– the repeal of 1099 in the House of Representatives. So, you know, there are certain pieces of it that should– always be subjected to review.

In September, senators from both parties proposed legislation to amend the provision, but neither version garnered 60 votes.

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/11/03/1099-common/

[bluestateguy]

1. If they can make up for the lost revenue in some way, I am open to that

nt

[dkf]

7. I read it's supposed to provide $17.1 billion over 10 years.

I have no concept of what that means anymore.

[pinto]

2. Update - McConnell really wants to repeal the whole Act.

Update "The first goal is repeal it and replace ," McConnell told Fox News' Bret Baier. "If we have the votes to put it on his desk we're going to do that. if we can't get it to his desk or if we do and he vetoes it, we'll go back and try to go after it piece by piece. The extraordinary unpopular individual mandate, the 1099 requirement. "

[dkf]

4. This is probably the most burdensome piece of it though.

We had to let our yardman go after he refused to give us his tax ID out of concern for his privacy. Our property manager wouldn't pay him without it and we had to make sure things were done legally.

[pinto]

6. Yeah, the arguments against the provision make a lot of sense.

I assume the (R) attempt to repeal the whole act will fail and this piece will likely be one both parties agree to remove. :hi:

[littlewolf]

3. death of 1000 cuts ....

[MrsCorleone]

5. Who wrote the 1099 requirement into the bill? Anybody know? nt

[dkf]

8. It looks like it was the Senate but I can't figure it out further than that.

[laughingliberal]

9. Woo Hoo! This one was aimed straight at the self employed and very small businesses. nt