Some Republicans said Tuesday that they oppose attaching any effort to overhaul Obamacare to their push for tax reform.
The doubts stirred after the latest Obamacare repeal effort led by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died after a third Republican senator came out against it, which is enough to kill the measure. Republican senators during their caucus lunch Tuesday agreed to cancel a planned vote on the legislation.
Some senators have already pivoted to tax reform.
“I’ve got one thing on my mind: tax reform. I’m ready to do tax reform,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
He opposed doing healthcare and tax reform at the same time.
“We have to do healthcare, but we need to go do tax reform, then we can come back to it,” Kennedy said.
Some Republicans want to pass a budget resolution that would let Republicans pass both tax reform and Obamacare repeal with only 51 votes. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., one of the co-sponsors of Graham-Cassidy, told Politico he favors including both tax reform and repeal in a new reconciliation vehicle.
But the idea is seeing major opposition from key groups.
House members also have pushed back against making a go at repealing Obamacare alongside tax reform. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told reporters that he opposes the approach because it would interfere with tax reform.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the third-ranking GOP senator, told reporters that it would be hard to combine the two into one reconciliation vehicle.
• Kimberly Leonard contributed to this report.
