This was a procedural vote on a resolution setting a time limit for debate and prohibiting amendments to legislation repealing a provision of a major health care law enacted in 2010 that required small businesses to file a tax form (a 1099 form) for all individuals who had received $600 or more from a business in exchange for property or merchandise. If passed, this particular procedural motion -- known as the “previous question" -- effectively ends debate and brings the pending legislation to an immediate vote. This bill also reduced subsidies provided by the health care law for uninsured Americans to purchase health insurance. The 1099 provision was included in the health care law to help raise tax revenue to pay for an expansion of insurance coverage. It later became widely viewed by members of both parties, however, as overly burdensome for small businesses.

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) urged support for the resolution and the underlying bill: “If you are looking for a prime example of government regulation which, first, is an unnecessary intrusion on small businesses, second, enlarges government bureaucracy at the expense of taxpayers and entrepreneurs, and, finally, creates a mountain of mind-numbing paperwork which has the net effect of killing jobs, then look no further….[The 1099 provision] of the health reform bill does all of that by requiring businesses to report every expense that they incur over $600; not just wages to their employees, but even for payments to other businesses and for merchandise. Imagine, if you will, a small business that picks up a couple of dozen doughnuts from Krispy Kreme on a weekly basis. At the end of the year, they must send a 1099 to Krispy Kreme. Think about a small business owner, as I have been for the last 14 years, who buys stamps from the post office, and now you have to send a 1099 to the U.S. Post Office.”

Like most Democrats, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) supported repealing the 1099 provision but opposed cutting subsidies to enable uninsured Americans to obtain health insurance: “…People who are middle class could be making $25,000 a year, $40,000, $50,000, $80,000, $90,000, $100,000 a year. It's not easy to be able to afford your health premiums if you have a family of four and you're in that income bracket. I regret what's happening here today, because the bottom line is there was bipartisan agreement on the main goal of repealing this 1099 reporting….There's no question here that we want to repeal the 1099 reporting requirement, but we don't want to pay for it on the backs of the middle class.”

The House agreed to the previous question motion by a vote of 243-185. All 239 Republicans present and 4 Democrats voted “yea.” 185 Democrats voted “nay.” As a result, the House proceeded to a final vote on a resolution setting a time limit for debate and prohibiting amendments to legislation repealing a provision of a major health care law enacted in 2010 that required small businesses to file a tax form (a 1099 form) for all individuals who had received $600 or more from a business in exchange for property or merchandise, and cutting subsidies enabling uninsured Americans to purchase health insurance.