So what happens now? Can the Republicans in the House of Representatives repeal the new health care law? Or just cut off all the funds so none of it happens? Is the book worthless now?

Here’s a quick guide to what they can do and can’t do:

  1. They can’t repeal the law. They will try, just to say they did, and repeal might even pass the House. But it won’t get through the Senate, which is still controlled by the Democrats. Even if it did, President Obama would veto the repeal bill, and the Republicans don’t have the votes to override him.
  2. They can withhold funds from the law. Not all of it, because a lot of it is automatic, but there are significant things that do require Congress to approve the funds from year to year. The agencies that are implementing the law will need money, for example, and House Republicans don’t have to give it to them. The House can also say, for example, that no money can be spent to enforce the requirement for everyone to get health insurance. And it can say that any money that hasn’t already been spent on other controversial things — like the research on what treatments work best — has to be given back.
  3. Even then, however, those restrictions are just a starting point. All of the funding that takes place each year must pass both the House and Senate, and Obama has to sign it into law. For all of these steps to happen, all three parties have to reach some kind of agreement. So House Republicans won’t be able to cut off all the funding they’d like. But Obama and Senate Democrats won’t be able to get all the funding they’d like, either.

At the end of the day, the law isn’t just going to disappear. But some very significant initiatives in the law probably won’t get the funding they need to succeed. This is classic Congress: Pass a bunch of new programs, and then skimp on the funding. This happens even when there isn’t as huge a partisan fight as we’re seeing over the health care law.

So no, the book isn’t worthless. You need to understand what’s in the law so you can follow what happens next. Which means — you guessed it — the book is more important than ever!