Dems Troll GOPers With Vote To Send Obamacare Repeal To Committee

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), visited Hamilton Center in Terre Haute, IN on Friday to discuss the opioid addiction crisis with the staff. (AP Photo/Tribune-Star, Austen Leake)
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), speaks with the staff at Hamilton Center in Terre Haute, Ind., about the opioid crisis on Friday, June 30, 2017. (Austen Leake /The Tribune-Star via AP)
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Democrats got to ask Republicans who have been critical of the secretive, hasty Obamacare repeal process to put their money where their mouths are in a symbolic vote Wednesday to send the legislation they’re considering to the relevant committee.

The vote on the motion, offered by Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) (pictured above), failed 48-52 on party lines. Donnelly’s motion would have sent the legislation back to the Finance Committee to strip the language cutting Medicaid. Later Wednesday a vote is expected on a motion offered by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) that would send the bill back to Finance to strike language that reduced the health care coverage for those with disabilities. Wednesday is the 27th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Wednesday’s vote is a preview of what’s to come as the Senate moves into the so-called “vote-a-rama” later this week. Because Republicans are seeking to use a complex legislative process called “reconciliation” that allows them to avoid a Democratic filibuster, there is an open amendments period where members of both parties offer measures that mostly serve as show votes.

At the end of the process, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will offer an amendment that cleans up whatever mess is made with the open amendments, and it will serve as the vehicle for the final bill the Senate votes on.

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