Senate GOP leadership doesn’t have the votes to advance a healthcare reform bill during a critical procedural vote to take place as soon as Tuesday.
Three Republican senators announced they would not support a procedural motion to advance the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would partially repeal Obamacare.
The three lawmakers not agreeing to a procedural vote are Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and centrists Dean Heller of Nevada and Susan Collins of Maine.
Other Republicans also are skeptical of holding a vote as soon as Tuesday. The procedural vote is necessary to get the bill passed by the end of this week, a major goal of GOP leadership.
I want to work w/ my GOP & Dem colleagues to fix the flaws in ACA. CBO analysis shows Senate bill won’t do it. I will vote no on mtp. 1/3
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 26, 2017
Collins tweeted on Monday that she wants to work with Democrats and Republicans to “fix the flaws in the [Affordable Care Act]. [Congressional Budget Office] analysis shows Senate bill won’t do it.”
The CBO said in an updated score on the Senate bill Monday afternoon that it would result in 22 million people going without insurance until 2026 and raise premiums and deductibles for poor people.
Leadership had hoped to have a procedural vote on a motion to proceed on the bill as early as Tuesday to hold a final vote by the end of the week.
“I am not voting to get on it unless it changes,” Paul said Monday. “It’s gonna be too short of a period of time to get much done.”
Heller said during a press conference on Friday that he won’t vote on any procedural motion nor on the bill itself. Heller said he is concerned about the bill’s Medicaid cuts and coverage losses from drawing down federal spending.
More senators are concerned about the bill and appear skeptical of voting for a procedural motion. Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah all oppose the bill in its current form but haven’t said they are a “no” on the procedural motion.
Johnson sounded skeptical of holding a vote this week, though.
“I need more information,” he said of the bill that was announced on Thursday.
McConnell can afford to lose only two GOP senators as Republicans have a 52-48 majority, assuming a 50-50 tie would be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.
