Straight Obamacare Repeal Dead In The Senate

Juliegrace Brufke on July 18, 2017

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plans for a straight Obamacare repeal are officially dead after three GOP senators said they don’t support the move Tuesday.

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said they won’t vote in favor of the proposal.

McConnell’s call to repeal then replace the Affordable Care Act comes in the wake of four Republican lawmakers — Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Collins — asserting they wouldn’t vote for the motion to proceed on the revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act Monday.

GOP leadership in the upper chamber had hopes of moving forward on the procedural vote before their July 4 recess, but failed to garner the support needed to send the bill back to the House.

A major divide remains on key provisions, including Obamacare taxes and how to handle funding for states that chose to expand Medicaid under the ACA.

President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday he thinks they should let Obamacare fail then construct a plan.