The Senate will vote on a procedural motion to take up healthcare reform this week, but it’s unknown if it will be a bill to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act or repeal it in full, the third-highest-ranking Republican senator said Sunday.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said on “Fox News Sunday” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will ultimately make the decision but didn’t give any clues as to which bill the Senate would consider.
“Ultimately, that’s a judgment that Sen. McConnell will make at some point this week before the vote,” he said.
The two bills being considered by the Senate are the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would repeal and replace Obamacare, and a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Both bills seem to face enough opposition to kill them on a procedural vote that would bring them to the Senate floor. At least three Republican senators have announced their intentions to vote against each bill on a “motion to proceed,” which would bring the bill to the floor where it can be debated and amended.
Thune said the Senate will, no matter what, vote at some point this week on the motion to proceed.
“It’s voting to get on the bill, it’s voting to debate. We can’t change the status quo … unless we get on the bill and the vote will be at some point this week,” he said.
Should that vote fail, the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will not die with it, he said.
“It’s not,” Thune said when asked if the bill was dead if the motion to proceed vote fails. “It is a vote, I think, for the status quo. What will happen if and when that were to occur is we’ll go back to the drawing board and we’ll get a bill up.
“We are going to vote to repeal and replace Obamacare, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
