Senate returns with GOP agenda in flux

Sen. John McCain, mending at home, key to future action.

Senators started returning to the Capitol on Monday with the Republican agenda in a state of flux after GOP lead- ers scrapped their plans to vote on a sweeping health care overhaul this week.

At the center of the uncer- tainty is Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is recovering at home from surgery to remove a blood clot above his left eye that involved opening his skull.

Without McCain in the Sen- ate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lacks the votes he needs to proceed with a bill to revamp major parts of the Affordable Care Act. So he has put it off until after McCain returns.

But when that would hap- pen was not clear Monday afternoon. McCain, 80, is awaiting the results of tissue pathology reports “pending within the next several days,” the hospital treating him said in a statement over the weekend. A McCain spokeswoman had no further update on his condi- tion Monday.

Democrats are pressuring Republicans to use the delay in the Senate to hold public hearings on the controversial GOP health care bill. All 48 members of the Democratic caucus — along with two Republicans — oppose the legislation.

“This will allow members to hear unfiltered and unbi- ased analysis of how the bill will affect their states and the health and financial security of the constituents they represent, including the impact of Medicaid cuts to vulner- able populations like chil- dren, people with disabilities, and people with pre-ex- isting conditions,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and two other leading Democratic senators in a letter to McConnell and a pair of GOP committee chairmen.

The letter also asks that GOP leaders not move ahead with the bill until the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office releases a “com- plete score” on it.

The CBO had been expected to release its findings as soon as Monday. But a GOP aide said that would not happen. The aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said a release later this week was possible but not certain.

The CBO has been projecting what the bill would do to insurance coverage levels, premium costs and the federal budget deficit. Having an unfavorable report in the public domain for an extended period of time with an uncertain date for a vote would fuel critics’ argument against the bill, probably making it harder for McConnell to round up votes for it.

Over the weekend, influential Republican governors said they were not sold, even after talking privately with the officials during the National Governors Association’s summer meeting.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the Senate would vote on health care “as soon as we have a full contingent of senators.”

But when that will happen depends on the severity of McCain’s condition. Until that is known, Senate Republican leaders plan to focus on trying to confirm more Trump administration nominees and some less sweeping legislative goals.

Without McCain in the Senate, McConnell can count on at most 49 votes to move ahead on the health care bill.