The Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill is “our best, last chance to get repeal and replace” of Obamacare done, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday, signaling that the House would quickly pass the Republican senators’ bill if it can clear the upper chamber in time.
Ryan addressed the Senate legislation after touring Harley-Davidson’s Menomonee Falls, Wis., factory to tax talk reform.
Sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Dean Heller of Nevada, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the legislation would repeal Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates and give states Obamacare funding in the form of block grants.
The bill is a last-ditch attempt to address former President Barack Obama’s law before a Sept. 30 deadline for the special procedural tool that would allow Republicans to pass legislation with only 51 votes in the Senate.
Ryan, who had previously spoken positively about the legislation, noted that the House would not have time to amend the bill if the Senate did clear it. Instead, it would face having to simply approve the Senate measure.
“A conference committee is probably not possible,” he noted.
Republicans in the House “acknowledge and understand” that they wouldn’t have time before the end of the month for anything other than a vote to approve the Senate legislation, he added.
