Senate stumbles over health care
Some members balk at idea of Obamacare ‘skinny repeal’
Some balk at “skinny repeal” of Obamacare
“It’s time to end the failed status quo.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The Senate began debating a bill late Thursday that would repeal limited portions of Obamacare and ban federal funding for Planned Parenthood as Republican leaders scrambled to pass legislation this week.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the bill ends the mandates that individuals buy health insurance and that larger employers offer coverage to their workers. It also provides more flexibility to the states in providing medical care to low-income Americans and repeals the medical device tax for three years.
It also would end federal funding of Planned Parenthood, a provision that is bound to draw opposition from moderate GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. It’s not clear whether the bill goes far enough to satisfy conservatives since it still contains Obamacare subsidies and most of the law’s taxes.
“It’s time to end the failed status quo,” McConnell said.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced earlier Thursday that they would not support a “skinny repeal” bill unless they had a guarantee the House will actually start negotiations and not simply pass the Senate bill and send it to President Trump.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWis., tried to provide that assurance by saying the House would be “willing ” to go to conference if that was what was required to move a bill forward. That won over Graham and Johnson, but McCain said it didn’t go far enough in assuring him that the House wouldn’t vote on the skin- ny repeal at some point.
Graham told reporters that passing a scaled-down version of a bill that would repeal Obamacare “politically would be the dumbest thing in history.”
Ryan said the Senate must vote first on whatever compromise is reached by House and Senate negotiators.
“If moving forward requires a conference committee, that is something the House is willing to do,” Ryan said. “The reality, however, is that repealing and replacing Obamacare still ultimately requires the Senate to produce 51 votes for an actual plan. The House remains committed to finding a solution and working with our Senate colleagues, but the burden remains on the Senate to demonstrate that it is capable of passing something that keeps our promise, as the House has already done.”
“Until the Senate can do that, we will never be able to develop a conference report that becomes law,” Ryan said. “We expect the Senate to act first on whatever the conference committee produces. Obamacare is collapsing and hurting American families. We have to keep working at this until we get the job done.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he believes Republicans will push the bill through the House and Senate and onto President Trump’s desk by Sunday.
“They are desperate to enact a bill before the summertime (August recess) starts, and that is why we’re all terrified here,” Schatz said in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday night. “They’re not going to end up in a conference committee, they’re going to end up in a signing ceremony over the weekend.”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., stoked Democrats’ fears by warning members to keep their travel plans flexible.