Senate GOP drops measure to undo health care law
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday officially abandoned the latest plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, shelving a showdown vote on the measure and effectively admitting defeat in their last-gasp drive to fulfill a core promise of President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers.
The decision came less than 24 hours after a pivotal Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, declared her opposition to the repeal proposal, all but ensuring that Republican leaders would be short of the votes they needed.
“We haven’t given up on changing the American health care system,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said after a lunchtime meeting of Republican senators. “We are not going to be able to do that this week, but it still lies ahead of us, and we haven’t given up on that.”
McConnell said Republicans would move on to their next big legislative goal: overhauling the tax code, a feat that has not been accomplished since 1986.
Democrats, who have spent all year fighting to protect the Affordable Care Act, a law that is a pillar of President Barack Obama’s legacy, responded by calling for the resumption of bipartisan negotiations to stabilize health insurance markets. Republican leaders had squelched those talks as the latest repeal plan, written by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, gained steam.
“We hope we can move forward and improve health care, not engage in another battle to take it away from people, because they will fail once again if they try,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader.
The decision by Senate Republican leaders may prove to be a milestone in the decades-long fight over health insurance in the United States, suggesting that the Affordable Care Act had gained at least a reprieve and perhaps a measure of political acceptance.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate health committee, and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the panel, have been working on legislation to stabilize insurance markets and hold down premiums in the next couple of years. Both said on Tuesday that they hoped to resume those efforts.
Millions of people who buy insurance on their own face sharp increases in premiums next year, and Congress is seeking ways to help them. Trump administration officials have taken a number of steps that have already undermined the operations of the health law.
And health care is sure to be an issue in next year’s midterm elections.
The Graham-Cassidy bill would have taken money provided under the Affordable Care Act for insurance subsidies and the expansion of Medicaid and sent it to states in the form of block grants. The bill’s demise was welcomed by consumer groups, doctors, hospitals and insurance executives who mobilized opposition to the proposal.
The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the bill would have reduced projected federal Medicaid spending by $1 trillion over a decade, added millions of Americans to the ranks of the uninsured and eliminated consumer protections for some people with pre-existing conditions.
Senate Republicans tried in July to approve a repeal bill, but that attempt ended in defeat when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gave a thumbs-down, killing that version of the legislation.
This time, Senate Republicans were trying to pass a different proposal, and a deadline was fast approaching: They have only until the end of this week to pass a repeal bill using special budget rules that shield it from a Democratic filibuster.
McConnell had planned for a vote before that deadline, but he could afford to lose only two Republicans.
By Tuesday, three members of his party had already gone public with their firm opposition: Collins, McCain and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
None of the three senators seemed likely to change their minds. McCain detested the hasty, partisan process used to push the bill; Collins had broad concerns about the legislation’s effects on health care; and Paul objected to the fundamental architecture of the bill, which in his view constituted “fake repeal.”
And other Republican senators might have opposed it had party leaders moved forward.
In a statement released after Senate Republicans decided not to do so, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted against the last repeal attempt in July, denounced what she described as “a lousy process.”
The failure in the Senate was also a disappointment to Republicans in the House, who managed to pass a repeal bill in May after their own struggles.
“We’re a little frustrated that the Senate has not acted on a seminal promise,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Then he returned to talking up the need for a tax overhaul.