Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed Democratic senators for his conference’s failure to get a healthcare bill approved.
McConnell said on Tuesday the Senate would now take up a 2015 bill that gutted Obamacare but left it in place for two years while a replacement is crafted.
“I imagine many Democrats were celebrating last night,” he said on the Senate floor. “I hope they consider what they’re celebrating.”
McConnell on healthcare bill failure: “This doesn’t have to be the end of the story” pic.twitter.com/fStB7xo3x4— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 18, 2017
He went on to say Democrats early on “did not want to engage with us seriously in the process.”
He added repealing Obamacare now, but leaving it in place for a few years, would create an opening for bipartisan healthcare talks to create that replacement.
“Passing this legislation will provide the opportunity for senators of all parties to engage in a fresh start and a new beginning for the American people,” he said.
But Democrats have hinted they are not likely to work with Republicans if they gut the law.
The GOP-controlled Congress had tried to put together a replacement for Obamacare to pass at the same time as repeal. However, those efforts collapsed Monday night because of insufficient support in McConnell’s own conference.
“I regret that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failures of Obamacare will not be successful,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we should give up.”
