Senate Republicans have of late made use of the resolution of disapproval, a legislative vehicle which cannot be filibustered and which can overturn administrative decisions. Because these need the signage of the President, they essentially have a 67-vote standard, because the nature of the resolutions that Republicans are attempting stand at odds with Administration goals. But they can be employed to prod Democrats and gauge their opinions on various subjects. That’s the point of today’s vote:

At 10:00am, the Senate will debate the motion to proceed to H.J.Res 39 [link], a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule relating to status as a grandfathered health plan under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under a unanimous consent agreement, there will be 2 hours for debate equally divided and controlled between the Leaders or their designees. Upon the use or yielding back of time (approximately 12:00 noon), the Senate will proceed to vote on the motion to proceed to H.J.Res. 39. Under the agreement reached, if the motion to proceed is agreed to there would be 1 hour for debate on the joint resolution of disapproval prior to a vote on passage.

Basically, by changing the rules around what constitutes a “grandfathered” plan, Republicans led by Sen. Mike Enzi wants to allow any health plan to avoid compliance with consumer protection rules. The fact that there are “grandfathered” plans in the first place, which aren’t subject to the laws, is a problem, but eventually those would get cycled out of the system. Under the Enzi rule, basically every plan would have the characteristics of a grandfathered plan. Ethan Rome of Health Care for America Now notes:

“The Enzi resolution is a backdoor maneuver to give back our health care to the insurance companies and to deny people many of the benefits of the new health care law, including consumer protections that end the worst of the insurance company abuses. The Enzi resolution would turn back the clock and allow insurance companies to deny our care and drop our coverage when we get sick. Those repugnant practices are finally illegal, and we should keep it that way.”

The Enzi resolution needs 51 votes, and it’s unlikely they’ll get them today. Even if they did, the President would veto. But this vote is more about next year, and the ways that Republicans will try to reach their goal of repealing the health care law without actually repealing it. It’s just a test run.

Watch them try to pass everything next year with a resolution of disapproval to avoid the filibuster, too.