Health-care bill losing vital support

GOP senator denounces legislation that takes away insurance from tens of millions of Americans

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, perhaps the most vulnerable Republican facing re-election in 2018, said Friday he would not support the newly released Senate health-care overhaul as written, dealing a serious blow to his party’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act just days before a showdown vote.

Using remarkably caustic language, Heller, who is seen as a pivotal swing vote, denounced the Senate-drafted health-care bill in terms that Democrats swiftly seized on.

“I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans,” he said in Las Vegas, standing next to Nevada’s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, who accepted federal funding in the health law to expand Medicaid.

After vowing for the last seven years to tear up what they call “Obamacare,” congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump are under pressure from their conservative base to fulfil their campaign promises. But Republican lawmakers in swing states face an excruciating choice: risk angering their grassroots supporters by walking away from the repeal effort or expose themselves to ferocious Democratic attacks by pushing through a deeply unpopular bill.

So far, five Republican senators have said they cannot vote for the Affordable Care Act repeal as written: Heller, whose concerns are with the bill’s benefits cuts, and four hard-line conservatives who say the bill is too generous.

Heller did not rule out voting for a version of the bill, leaving the battle for 50 votes ahead of a Senate showdown as early as next week still alive. But his denunciation of what is one of the pillars of Trump’s agenda gave fresh hope to Democrats that they may be able to torpedo the measure.