‘EVERYTHING HARDER’ IN LIGHT OF SCATHING ANALYSIS OF REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE BILL

Republicans senators conceded Thursday that a scathing analysis of the House GOP health care bill had complicated their effort to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care law.

“It makes everything harder and more difficult,” Sen. Dean Heller said of a Congressional Budget Office analysis projecting that the House bill would cause 23 million Americans to lose coverage by 2026 and create prohibitively expensive costs for many others.

“There’s blinking yellow lights throughout the whole thing,” Sen. Patrick Toomey said of the report by lawmakers’ nonpartisan fiscal experts.

Congress now begins a week-long recess, with GOP senators still hunting for a health-care overhaul plan that can win the support of no less than 50 of their 52 members. All Democrats seem likely to oppose the bill, and Vice-President Mike Pence could break a 50-50 tie.

While the analysis of the Housepassed plan simply gives senators a numerical starting point for their own work, it also made the Republican health care drive a fatter target for Democratic attacks.

“The bottom line is very simple. Unless you’re a healthy millionaire, Trumpcare is a nightmare,” said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “And I think that’s why our Republican colleagues are having such trouble putting together their own bill.”