House Warms to Tax Bill Obama Mandate Repeal

The House's chief tax-writer says ending the "Obamacare" requirement that everyone have health insurance — an element of the Senate bill — is a move the House also is likely to accept.

Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, made his comments Tuesday as Senate Republican leaders pushed to pass their bill this week. It would eventually have to be reconciled with the tax measure recently passed by the House.

Brady has previously said that repealing the so-called individual mandate under the Obama health care law was politically risky. But he told the American Enterprise Institute that "the House has always been strongly supportive of eliminating that forced tax."

He said, "We're going to let the Senate process go forward, encourage the Senate to deliver a good pro-growth product."