Sens. Hatch And Alexander Offer Bill To Repeal Health Law’s Requirement To Get Insurance

Reuters: New Senate Bill Would Overturn Obamacare's Individual Mandate
Leading Republican senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to repeal one of Obamacare's most unpopular provisions -- the individual mandate that requires most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Lamar Alexander, who heads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced the three-paragraph bill titled, the American Liberty Restoration Act, with backing from 20 other Republican co-sponsors. (Morgan, 1/22)

News organizations also continued to examine how President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech was playing on Capitol Hill.

The Fiscal Times: Obama Renews Health Care Fight With Republicans
In his sixth State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama touted the achievements of his signature health care law – including expanded health coverage for 10 million Americans and the slowdown of health care spending growth to the lowest rate in over 50 years. (Ehley, 1/21)

The New York Times: Talk Of Wealth Gap Prods The G.O.P. To Refocus
With the economy finally on more solid ground, even leading Republicans, on Capitol Hill and on the nascent 2016 presidential campaign front, are tempering complaints about overall economic growth and refocusing on the more intractable problem of income inequality. ... But such “reform conservatism” has a long way to go before being accepted by the dominant players in Republican circles. Mr. Obama is not just pursuing “the wrong policies,” Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said Wednesday. ... “There’s a better way,” he said. “We need to fix our broken tax code, balance our budget, replace the broken health care law with solutions that lower cost and protect jobs.” (Weisman and Parker, 1/21)