A Senate working group received draft legislative text on Tuesday for replacing Obamacare, with Republicans working under a tight timeframe to put a bill together.
The working group of more than a dozen Republicans collected ideas that they have been discussing in twice-weekly meetings. Some senators said putting the ideas down on paper was an important step toward reaching consensus for a final bill, but intractable differences remain.
“This is an attempt to try to bring us to consensus on the major items,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the second-ranking GOP senator said after a Tuesday meeting. “It is an attempt to take all the conversations we have had over months, if not years, and find points of consensus to allow us to vote on a bill.”
The deadline to vote on the bill is growing closer, as Senate leadership is hoping for a vote as early as this month. Cornyn has said he hopes to hold a vote before the Senate breaks for the month-long August recess.
Any bill needs to overcome several procedural hurdles.
“Obviously we need to start working on that because we need to get it to the Congressional Budget Office [for a score] and that will take a couple of weeks at least,” he said. “Unlike the House, we are obligated to get a CBO score before we vote.”
However, before Republicans even hope to get a bill to the CBO they have to reach consensus on a final bill, and that includes settling major differences over Medicaid expansion and other issues.
The full GOP conference is meeting for lunch Tuesday to discuss policy ideas, and leadership hinted that a decision will be needed soon.
“I think they are gonna learn that the policy options have been narrowed and there is a path forward but there are some big decisions that still have to be made,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the third-ranking GOP senator.
