Healthcare stumble in US Senate
Republicans left two votes short of being able to pass revamped measure
Two more Senate Republicans have declared their opposition to the latest plan to overhaul the US healthcare system, potentially ending a months-long effort to make good on a GOP promise that has defined the party and been a top priority for President Donald Trump.
Senators Mike Lee and Jerry Moran issued statements declaring that they would not vote for the revamped measure. The sudden breaks by Lee, a staunch conservative, and Moran, an ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, rocked the GOP leadership and effectively closed what already had been an increasingly narrow path to passage for the bill.
They joined senators Rand Paul and Susan Collins who also oppose it. With just 52 seats, Republicans can afford to lose only two votes to pass their proposed rewrite of the Affordable Care Act. All 46 Democrats and two independents are expected to vote against it.
Republicans, who have made rallying cries against President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law a pillar of the party’s identity, may be forced to grapple with the law’s shift from a perennial GOP target to an accepted, even popular, provider of services and funding in many states, which could make further repeal revivals difficult. Trump and other Republicans will confront a Republican base that, despite fervent support for the President, still seeks a smaller federal government and fewer regulations.
All of these forces remained vexing factors as senators bailed on the bill. And no evident solution was offered by the White House — which has been limited in its sale of the GOP plan — or from McConnell, for how to bring together a party in which moderates and conservatives are still deeply divided over the scope of federal healthcare funding and regulations.
McConnell did announce that he plans to push for a vote in the coming days anyway, potentially setting up a showdown with conservatives who have pushed for a clean repeal bill.
Lee and Moran timed the release of their statements and made it clear that modest tinkering around the edges of the legislation drafted by McConnell would not be enough to meet their demands. They joined a pair of GOP colleagues in calling for a complete redrawing of the legislation that would take many months, short-circuiting McConnell’s wish to end the debate this month.
The news threw the effort to pass the legislation into turmoil.
Trump tweeted that “Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan”. Earlier, the health of Senator John McCain put the future of the flagging effort deeper in doubt. McConnell said that he had spoken to McCain and that “he’ll be back with us soon”. The Arizona senator is recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot above his left eye that involved opening his skull.
McConnell had delayed action on the healthcare bill until McCain’s return in hopes that he could be persuaded to vote yes. McCain issued a statement calling for a fresh, bipartisan start. More than a century has passed since the first successful transit of the treacherous, ice-bound Northwest Passage by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1906.
Now AP is sending a text, video and photo team through the passage, where global warming is melting sea ice and glaciers at an historic rate, altering and opening up the Arctic in a way unprecedented in recorded history. Although the passage presents an attractive shortcut for maritime traffic between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, only a dozen or two vessels attempt to navigate the poorly charted Canadian Arctic Archipelago during the brief summer window each year. Many are sturdy coast guard icebreakers, adventure