Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran said Sunday his gut is telling him he’s not sure Republicans will have enough votes to pass a healthcare reform bill through the Senate by the end of the week.
“This is still a work in progress, although the leader of the United States Senate is very good at establishing coalitions to make sure legislation passes,” Moran said.
The Kansas Republican added, “My gut tells me this is very difficult and, I hate to say this, but I just don’t know whether the votes will be there by the end of the week.”
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants the Senate to vote on the healthcare bill by the end of the week to have it ready to go before the July 4 recess next week.
However, Moran compared it to the process in the House where the American Health Care Act had a deadline that slipped past before more negotiations could take place. Eventually, those negotiations ended up in a bill that passed the lower chamber.
Moran said most members of the Senate GOP are analyzing the bill and are waiting to hear what the Congressional Budget Office will say about the bill in an analysis released later this week.
“We have our work cut out for us,” he said.
