GOP delays health care vote
McConnell promises to revisit controversial bill after July 4 recess
WASHINGTON — Senate GOP leaders abruptly shelved their long-sought health care overhaul Tuesday, asserting they can still salvage it but raising new doubts about whether President Donald Trump and the Republicans will ever deliver on their promises to repeal and replace “Obamacare.”
Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced a delay for any voting at a closed-door senators’ lunch also attended by Vice President Mike Pence, giving him a few extra weeks to build support for a revised bill before it risks becoming hopelessly stalled by the opposition. Mr. McConnell’s tone was matter-of-fact, according to those present, yet his action amounts to a stinging setback for the longtime Senate leader who had developed the legislation largely in secret as Mr. Trump hung back in deference.
Now Mr. Trump is seen as likely to push into the discussion more directly, and he immediately invited Senate Republicans to the White House.
“This will be great if we get it done, and if we don’t get it done it’s just going to be something that we’re not going to like, and that’s OK and I understand that very well,” he told the senators.
In the private meeting that followed, said Marco Rubio of Florida, the president spoke of “the costs of failure, what it would mean to not get it done — the view that we would wind up in a situation where the markets will collapse
and Republicans will be blamed for it and then potentially have to fight off an effort to expand to single payer at some point.”
The Better Care Reconciliation Act has many critics and few outspoken fans on Capitol Hill. It was short of support heading toward a critical procedural vote on Wednesday, and prospects for changing that are uncertain. Mr. McConnell promised to revisit the legislation after Congress’ July 4 recess.
“It’s a big complicated subject, we’ve got a lot discussions going on, and we’re still optimistic we’re going to get there,” Mr. McConnell told reporters after the lunch.
Mr. McConnell has scant margin for error in the closely divided Senate, and the legislation to eliminate Obamacare’s mandates and unwind its Medicaid expansion has shed support practically from the moment it was unveiled last Thursday. By Tuesday morning at least five GOP senators had announced their opposition to a procedural vote on the bill, and after Mr. McConnell announced the delay several more went public with their criticism.
Mr. McConnell can lose only two senators from his 52-member caucus and still pass the bill, with Mr. Pence — who has been helping to lead the effort to salvage the foundering bill — to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Democrats are unanimously opposed, and in recent days they have stepped up protests, delivering speeches on the Senate floor for hours and holding vigils on the Capitol steps.
Medical groups are nearly unanimously opposed, too, along with the AARP, though the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the bill.
A number of GOP governors including John Kasich of Ohio oppose the legislation — especially in states that have expanded the Medicaid program for the poor under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — and their mounting criticism helped stymie Republican efforts to marshal support in the Senate.
GOP defections increased after the Congressional Budget Office said Monday the measure would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026 than Mr. Obama’s 2010 statute.
The budget office report said the Senate bill’s coverage losses would especially affect people between ages 50 and 64, before they qualify for Medicare, and with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level, or around $30,300 for an individual.
The Senate plan would end the tax penalty the law imposes on people who don’t buy insurance, and on larger businesses that don’t offer coverage to workers.
It also would eliminate $700 billion worth of taxes over a decade, largely on wealthier people and medical companies.
It would cut Medicaid by $772 billion through 2026 by capping its overall spending and phasing out Mr. Obama’s expansion of the program. Of the 22 million people losing health coverage, 15 million would be Medicaid recipients.