Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has decided to pull the plug on Cassidy-Graham, the GOP’s latest attempt to repeal Obamacare.
This is exactly what happened in July when House Speaker
Paul Ryan (R-WI) dropped healthcare legislation on the eve of an anticipated
losing vote.
Lawmakers agreed during a luncheon on Tuesday that there
was no point voting on Cassidy-Graham. The party could afford to lose only two
votes, and three Republicans had already promised to vote “no.” Those three
Republicans were John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, and Rand Paul
of Kentucky.
“The US Senate cannot get the text of a bill on a Sunday
night, then proceed to a vote just days later, with only one hearing – and
especially not on an issue that is intensely personal to all of us,” said
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who criticized the “lousy process” of the
proposal. McCain had a similar stance.
As discussed during the Tuesday luncheon, some senators
wanted to vote on the bill just to show the party they did all they could to
repeal the Affordable Care Act, but many argued that voting on a doomed bill
would harm the party’s reputation.
"Why have a vote if you know what the outcome is and
it's not what you want?" asks Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).
There were also worries that President Trump would
continue to attack Republicans if they gave up on their seven-year promise to
end Obamacare.
After the decision was made, Trump said that he was
“disappointed” in GOP Senators who refused to support Cassidy-Graham and even
threatened to work with Democrats on future healthcare legislation.
Senator Bill Cassidy, who authored the healthcare bill
with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), admits that Republicans lost a race against
the clock: “Time was the enemy. Some people didn’t like the process so we
needed hearings to have them feel better about the process and we didn’t have
time for those hearings.”
The Senate returns to “regular order” at the end of the
month. After that, they will need 60 votes to pass legislation.
Graham says Republicans will revisit the repeal effort
next year, using the budget resolution for FY 2019 to enable them to evade a
Democratic filibuster. “We’re coming back to this after taxes. We’re going to
have time to explain our concept,” said Graham on Tuesday. “To my Republican
colleagues, we’re going to fulfill our promise to repeal and replace
Obamacare.”
Vice President Mike Pence has urged Republicans not to
use the deadline as an excuse to forget about health care.
The healthcare debate is far from over. As Larry Horist
puts it, the mainstream media has a way of calling the final score at the end
of each inning.
"Look, we haven't given up on changing the American
healthcare system,” said McConnell on Tuesday. “We're not going to do it this
week, but it still lies ahead of us. We haven't given up on that. Where we go
from here is tax reform.”
It’s better to “focus on taxes right now,” agreed Senator
Pat Toomey (R-PA).
In the meantime, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-NY) has promised that Democrats are ready to work with Republicans to
improve Obamacare. “Once this bill goes down, we’re ready to work with you to
find a compromise that stabilizes markets, that lowers premiums.”
“We hope we can move forward and improve healthcare, not
engage in another battle to take it away from people, because they will fail
once again if they try,” said Schumer.
Editor's
note: Another swing, another miss. Still not over.
