GOP leadership in the Senate is hopeful they can bring their Obamacare repeal bill to the floor for a vote next week despite a lack of consensus within the conference on a number of key provisions in the measure.
While leadership was unable to gain the support needed to move forward on the motion to proceed ahead of their July 4 recess, they are looking to bridge the divide within the conference over the course of the next few days. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said Monday he’s optimistic lawmakers will be able to roll out portions of the revised bill by Friday, adding they have “been taking suggestions from members” and would like to see an updated score from the Congressional Budget Office early next week.
“We’re just trying to get a good picture of what the alternatives are, and hopefully next week we’ll be prepared to take the bill up and vote on it,” he told reporters.
Republican leadership’s goal of gaining the simple majority needed to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act is proving to be a tedious task, with conservatives arguing the initial draft didn’t do enough to bring down premiums. Alternatively, moderates feared the implications of rolling back funding for Medicaid expansion states.
An amendment put forward by Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah — dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act — would allow insurers to offer plans that don’t meet the requirements set forth in the Affordable Care Act’s Title I provisions. The addition could be a key component in gaining conservative support, but moderates have expressed concerns the amendment could make it more difficult for those with pre-existing conditions to find access to affordable plans.
McConnell is expected to discuss the changes with members of his party on Tuesday and Wednesday. While Cornyn would like to see action next week, the timeline remains shaky.
Sen. John Hoeven of South Dakota said Republicans are going to need to see the changes and will need time to talk to experts in the industry about potential implications.
“We’re going to want to see the amendments, and we’re also going to want to make sure that we have a chance to see what the score is and understand it,” he told reporters Monday.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson — who was one of the handful of senators that came out against the discussion draft — said he thinks it’s possible for members to pass a repeal bill before August recess, but appeared skeptical.
“I think we have the information we would need if we’re willing to use it — if we’re willing to be honest about what has caused the collapse of these markets and address it forthrightly — not being concerned about the political implications, but actually fix the problem,” he said. “I’m not sure we’re going to address it, and that is enormously frustrating for me. But I think we certainly could do this before August recess.”
Johnson noted the CBO report on the initial Senate bill projected they had a sizable amount of funding they could use to ease a number of lawmakers major concerns.
“The fact is that we have close to 200 billion dollars of additional deficit reduction that we can in some way shape or form use to fund the high-cost pre-existing conditions in an appropriate way without collapsing markets,” he said.
“This should be entirely doable.”
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