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Republicans poised to break their seven-year Obamacare repeal pledge: On Wednesday afternoon, Republicans are widely expected to reject a “clean” repeal of Obamacare. But the fact that it is expected doesn’t make it any less extraordinary. For more than seven years, Republicans at every level of government have campaigned on a promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, but given the power to do so, they are going to balk. On Tuesday night, Republicans voted down one bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, and now they are expected to vote down a bill that would repeal much of Obamacare’s taxes and spending — which they voted for in 2015 when they knew former President Barack Obama would veto it. The process is continuing, and there is talk of a “skinny repeal” bill passing, which would repeal a few unpopular parts of Obamacare, such as the individual and employer mandates. But at this stage, it’s becoming more and more unlikely that Republicans will be able to repeal a substantial portion of the law.
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday:
The debate on the American Health Care Act began in the Senate at 9:30 a.m. Two roll call votes were being delayed until 3:30. One is a vote on a motion that would allow reconciliation to be used on an amendment offered by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. The motion would apply to the same repeal bill that Senate Republicans sent to Obama’s desk in 2015, known as the “repeal and delay” bill, and would require at least 50 votes. If something looks like it’s violating reconciliation rules, senators can raise a point of order and push for a 60-vote threshold. But Republicans can then vote on the amendment itself.
At some point, there is also expected to be a Democratic motion to recommit, which would be a vote on sending the bill back to committee, a maneuver that’s typically used by the minority party to force majority party senators to cast embarrassing votes.
‘Skinny repeal’ gains momentum: With full repeal or repeal and replace likely sidelined, “skinny repeal” has gained steam, as both Sen. Rand Paul on the right and Sen. Dean Heller from the center have indicated support. The individual and employer mandates are likely to be on the chopping block, as is a tax, such as the medical device tax that both Republicans and Democrats would like to eliminate. If this were to pass as the final Senate bill, it would trigger negotiations in a conference with the House, which would provide Republicans another crack at creating a broader compromise.
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The Better Care Reconciliation Act died again. A motion on a healthcare amendment that would have repealed and replaced portions of Obamacare failed Tuesday night in the Senate. The motion was shot down after 57 senators voted against a procedural move regarding whether it complies with the Budget Act. Had they voted differently, the amendment would have required only 50 votes for passage, but the latest move effectively kills the proposal that Republicans have worked on for months. The nine Republicans who voted against the motion were: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Dean Heller of Nevada, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mike Lee of Utah.
But wait! There is still a chance for it to come back from the dead. Even though the vote would have come up short under reconciliation, another reason the motion was voted down is because it required 60 votes in the upper chamber. That’s because two of its provisions haven’t been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. They include an amendment to add more funding to Medicaid, proposed by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, as well as another proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which would allow insurers to sell cheaper, less comprehensive plans as long as they provide one plan that provides the same full range of benefits as required under Obamacare. So, there’s still a chance it could return during conference.
Or suffer another death by the parliamentarian. She has not made a determination on whether the two provisions meet reconciliation rules, which require that the bill target only items that have to do with the federal budget.
What else has the parliamentarian recommended against? Anti-abortion provisions, a six-month waiting period that would replace the individual mandate, a measure to charge seniors higher premiums and a provision that would let small businesses bypass Obamacare insurance rules. These portions of the bill don’t meet reconciliation rules, according to recommendations from the Senate parliamentarian, and are likely to be stripped out because they would require 60 votes for passage.
Heading into Wednesday senators will continue to debate healthcare. Here’s more on the road ahead. A vote-a-rama is likely for Thursday heading into Friday.
Actuaries worried about skinny repeal. Healthcare number crunchers are warning GOP leaders that their idea of skinny repeal is going to come with consequences such as increases in premiums. The American Academy of Actuaries sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday urging senators to not repeal the individual mandate. The actuaries say that eliminating the mandate would result in the deterioration of Obamacare’s risk pools because younger and healthier people would lose an incentive to sign up. Another problem is that insurers are already charging rates this year on the expectation that the mandate won’t be eliminated. If the mandate is eliminated immediately, it could lead to a deterioration of the risk pool with premiums too low to cover the sicker population, the group said.
Cornyn: Final vote by September? Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, laid out an optimistic path for a final vote on a healthcare bill after a potential conference with the House. He told reporters that a final vote could be done by September if the Senate gets a bill out of the chamber this week and moves to a conference with the House. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina agreed, saying both chambers should be able to vote on a final bill assuming conferees work in August to iron out a plan. There are many unknowns about that scenario, though. For one, Congress has to lift the debt ceiling and reach a spending deal by the end of September.
For another, there is still the matter of the August recess, which is scheduled to start at the end of this week. The Senate willl start its recess the week of Aug. 14. House leadership has suggested staying in town to pass whatever makes it out of the Senate chamber on healthcare, but a conference could change that equation.
The dramatic buildup of how the motion to proceed ultimately prevailed. Shortly before the vote, Republican Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of Ohio, three key swing votes in the healthcare debate, said they would vote “yes” to begin the healthcare debate. Before the vote began, about 20 protesters shouted “kill the bill” and, “Shame! Shame! Shame!” from the public viewing gallery after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., implored fellow Republicans to vote in favor of starting debate. They were escorted out before the vote began. Senators waited about 20 minutes for Arizona Sen. John McCain to arrive and cast his affirmative vote, and several senators from both political parties were seen talking to Murkowski and Collins while they waited. Sen. Ron Johnson, who has complained about comments McConnell made to centrist holdouts about Medicaid changes in the Senate healthcare bill never taking effect, waited until McCain arrived to cast his “yes” vote. The procedural motion was advanced along party lines by a 50-50 vote, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie. All 48 Democrats and two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted no. At the end of the vote, McCain spoke on the Senate floor and blasted the partisanship of the process. He warned that just because he was voting on the motion did not mean he would definitely support a final bill and said that if a bill failed, Democrats and Republicans should work together on solutions and hold hearings. Read the full speech.
Trump tells Ohio: ‘I can be more presidential than any president’ except Lincoln. Trump ticked through the list of his administration’s accomplishments, such as legislation Trump signed that allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire misbehaving employees more easily. But he was perhaps most proud of Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, which overcame a major hurdle earlier Tuesday when the Senate approved a motion to proceed with debate on healthcare legislation. “You think that’s easy? That’s not easy,” Trump said of the Obamacare overhaul.
He also isn’t happy with Lisa Murkowski. We all kind of saw this coming. Trump lashed out on Twitter at Lisa Murkowski for voting against the healthcare procedural motion. “Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
Price: Senate needs to use ‘lowest common denominator.’ Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price called on the Senate to make a deal on something to continue Obamacare repeal. “What we need to do in the Senate is figure out the lowest common denominator is, what gets us to 50 votes so we can move forward on healthcare legislation,” Price said on CNBC Wednesday.
Most Republican voters back Obamacare repeal-and-delay strategy. The poll from Politico and Morning Consult said 58 percent of GOP voters support repealing Obamacare and replacing it later. It also found that 21 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents back the two-step strategy. It found that 36 percent of all voters polled support dismantling the 2010 healthcare law without a replacement, and 50 percent oppose that plan.
Democrats ask ‘resist’ movement to help fight healthcare bill. Led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Democrats made explicit calls to liberal activists in a post-vote rally Tuesday on the Senate steps and the lawn outside the Capitol Visitor Center that lasted about 2.5 hours as lawmakers appeared to gin up the base. Democrats were joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the popular runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination last year. “We are going to do everything we can inside this building, and we want you, and thank you and millions of Americans, for doing things outside this building because together we are united in saying that this bill will hurt so many millions of people in so many ways that we will not let it pass,” Schumer said at the rally. “We are going to fight and fight and fight until this bill is dead!” Schumer said he hoped to work with Republicans if the GOP’s efforts fail, but many of those in attendance cried out for “single-payer,” or a system in which the government is the main purchaser of government for millions of Americans.
Anthem sends warning as Senate debates Obamacare repeal. The insurer said it could hasten its retreat from Obamacare if it doesn’t get a firm commitment from the government to fund it, according to a report in Bloomberg. Anthem said in its latest earnings statement that it needs a commitment from Washington that it will fund the cost-sharing reduction payments next year, which reimburse insurers for reducing co-pays and deductibles for low-income customers on Obamacare’s exchanges. A Senate repeal and replacement bill for Obamacare left the cost-sharing payments for two years. But that was the bill that failed last night.
Faith leaders deliver casket to McConnell’s office to protest healthcare vote. Ministers and leaders from Auburn Seminary, Faith in Public Life, #LoveResists, Middle Church, NYC, Red Letter Christians, Repairers of the Breach and Unitarian Universalist Association led a protest Tuesday morning over what they consider a “moral assault efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
Capitol Police arrest dozens during Senate healthcare protests. They arrested 31 people Tuesday and charged them with “disruption of Congress” during the Senate’s procedural vote to move forward on legislation to repeal Obamacare. And in a separate incident Tuesday, the Capitol Police arrested 64 people for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding” in a demonstration at the Hart Senate Office Building. As senators considered the procedural motion, protests of “kill the bill” and “shame, shame, shame,” could be heard in the gallery.
Collins and Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, apologize to each other for hurling insults. “Neither weapons nor inappropriate words are the right way to resolve legislative debates,” Collins said in a statement Tuesday to CNN. “I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning. I accept his apology, and I offer him mine.” In a statement to the Washington Examiner Tuesday, Farenthold had no comment on Collins’ statements.
Collins issued her apology after she was heard telling Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that Farenthold is “so unattractive it’s unbelievable” after a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
“Well, fat guy. He’s huge,” Collins told Reed. “He’s so … he’s so unattractive, it’s unbelievable. Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this bunny, this Playboy bunny?”
Trump bans transgender people from serving in military. Trump announced Wednesday morning the military would no longer allow transgender individuals to serve in “any capacity” in the military. Last year, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people already in the military could serve openly, and directed service chiefs to come up with a policy to allow transgender recruitment by July 1. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced a delay in the implementation on June 30. In a report last year, the Rand Corp. estimated that about 2,450 transgender people serve in the active component of the military, with another 1,510 in the reserve.
U.S. becomes the fattest country. Life-threatening obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, with 711 million overweight around the globe, led by French fry-loving Americans. A detailed report in the latest New England Journal of Medicine is winning alarmed attention in Washington because it finds that American children and adults are leading the obesity parade.
RUNDOWN
Kaiser Health News Paid parental leave may be the idea that transcends politics
Columbus Dispatch Why Rob Portman voted yes on healthcare vote
Axios Conservative groups key vote straight Obamacare repeal
STAT News Trump says it’s too expensive to care for transgender service members. Here’s the truth
The Hill Scaramucci: We are moving to a “freer” healthcare system
CNN CTE found in 99% of studied brains from deceased NFL players
Washington Post Sperm concentration has dropped 50 percent in 40 years in three continents
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | JULY 26
Senate to continue debate on the House-passed American Health Care Act.
5 p.m. Planned Parenthood to hold protest over Republican federal defunding efforts on Capitol Hill.
THURSDAY | JULy 27
Senate vote-a-rama expected on healthcare bill .
SATURDAY | JULY 29
Our Lives on the Line, a coalition of healthcare advocates and liberal groups, will hold 125 rallies in 36 states against Obamacare repeal.
