Nevada GOP senator won’t back health bill

Measure would deprive millions of insurance, he says.

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, perhaps the most vulnerable Republican facing re-election in 2018, said Friday he would not support the newly released Senate health care overhaul as written, dealing a serious blow to his party’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act just days before a showdown vote.

Using remarkably caustic language, Heller denounced the Senate-drafted health care bill in terms that Democrats swiftly seized on. He said the measure would deprive millions of health care and do nothing to lower insurance premiums.

“I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans,” he said at a news conference in Las Vegas, standing next to Nevada’s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, who accepted federal funding in the health law to expand Medicaid.

After vowing for the last seven years to tear up what they call “Obamacare,” congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump are under pressure from their conservative base to fulfill their campaign promises. But Republican lawmakers in swing states face an excruciating choice: risk angering their grass-roots supporters by walking away from the repeal effort or expose themselves to Democratic attacks by pushing through a deeply unpopular bill.

So far, five Republican senators have said they cannot vote for the Affordable Care Act repeal as written: Heller, whose concerns are with the bill’s benefit cuts, and four conservatives who say the bill is too generous — as one termed it, “Obamacare lite.”

Heller did not rule out ultimately voting for a version of the bill, leaving the battle for 50 votes ahead of the Senate showdown still alive. But his denunciation of what is one of the pillars of Trump’s agenda gave fresh hope to Democrats that they may be able to torpedo the measure.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment,” said Anna Galland, the head of MoveOn.Org, an advocacy group firmly on the liberal wing of the party. “We are unified out of urgent, building-is-burning-down necessity. And health care is by far our top priority.”

Scrambling to halt or at least slow the Senate’s repeal effort, a range of Democratic and progressive leaders said Friday that they intended to intensify pressure on Republican lawmakers.

Liberal groups have already organized protests against the bill, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont plans to lead a campaign-style tour this weekend through West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, three states with Republican senators that also expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Planned Parenthood, which would be defunded under the Senate bill, has been running television ads targeting Heller, as well as Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., also up for re-election next year, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

In recent days, potential Democratic challengers have stepped forward against both Heller and Flake, the two Republicans most likely to face tough races in 2018.

Senate Republicans crafted their bill behind closed doors, drawing considerably less news attention than House Republicans who formally drafted their version of the legislation in open sessions. But Democrats believe the coming week represents their best and perhaps final chance to thwart repeal of the health law.

“This is the one opportunity we have to shine a light on this legislation and we will do it day and night,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., projecting the bill’s passage “a jump ball.”

The Senate Democratic campaign arm, which Van Hollen chairs, plans to increase its spending this week on internet ads focused on the health measure in Nevada and Arizona, as well as Texas and Florida, which also have Senate races in 2018. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is just one of a series of liberal groups that are airing spots — online and on television and radio — to pressure up-for-grabs Senate Republicans into opposing the overhaul.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, two centrist Republicans who at times defy their party, are also facing intense lobbying to vote no.

Strikingly, there has been little in the way of advertising from the right pushing Republicans to support the bill. But Heller’s criticism Friday infuriated allies of Trump. America First Policies, a super PAC aligned with the White House, was gearing up to spend $1 million worth of advertising in Nevada aimed at making Heller change his mind.

Indeed, Heller may best reflect the tensions within the larger Republican Party. He is a popular but vulnerable lawmaker from a purple state that is full of rural conservatives but is increasingly shaped by a rising minority population in and around Las Vegas, its population center. And while Heller has called for repealing the Affordable Care Act he has also consistently reassured voters that their health coverage would improve under a Republican alternative.