Prescription for a Senate fight
Jubilant Republicans will have to square their celebrations with the stark reality that passing their Obamacare replacement plan through the Senate will be far more difficult and require even more political pressure from President Trump.
“It’s not called the world’s most deliberative body for nothing,” Republican strategist Patrick Griffin said. “The Senate’s going to probably chop away at this bill a bit. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Without Democratic cooperation, Republicans would need 50 of their 52 members to vote in favor (with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a tie). U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz praised the House passage, but hinted he needs to see changes before he can support it.
“We should continue to improve the bill,” Cruz said in a statement. Other senators also promised dramatic changes.
“We will work together carefully to write our own bill,” said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. “We’ll make sure we know what our bill costs when we vote on it. ... We will get it right, and then we will vote.”
Moderate Republicans, such as U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have been lukewarm on Trump proposals so far, ranging from revoking Planned Parenthood funding to appointing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Collins, in a statement, said “there seem to be more questions than answers,” and wants to know more about the bill’s impact on patients with pre-existing conditions as well as future costs and access of insurance.
Trump, performing a victory lap in the Rose Garden with fellow Republicans moments after the House vote, declared Obamacare “dead ... essentially dead” and vowed its replacement, the American Health Care Act, will be signed into law.
“We’re going to get this passed through the Senate,” Trump said. “I feel so confident.”
Politically, it’s more than health care on the line for Republicans, Griffin said. The party has majorities in the House and Senate and high expectations to deliver on campaign promises.
Trump, who campaigned on being the dealmaker-in-chief, will likely play a key role in strongarming holdout GOP senators — as he did in the House.
He Twitter-shamed House Freedom Caucus members who blocked the first attempt at health care reform in March, promising to “fight them and Democrats in 2018.”
Griffin said Republicans need a legislative victory soon, and passage of an Obamacare replacement bill could help pave the way for future tax reform and infrastructure proposals.