McConnell: ‘I Don’t Know How We Get To 50’ Senate Votes To Pass ACA Repeal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks to reporters before the vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 7, 2017. The Republican majority changed Senate rules to lower the vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees from 60 votes to a simple majority to counter Democratic resistance. McConnell also supported Trump's airstrike on Syria. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks to reporters before the vote to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 7, 2017. The Repu... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks to reporters before the vote to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 7, 2017. The Republican majority changed Senate rules to lower the vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees from 60 votes to a simple majority to counter Democratic resistance. McConnell also supported Trump's airstrike on Syria. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Wednesday said he doesn’t know how Republicans will muster enough votes to get their bill repealing and replacing Obamacare through the Senate.

“I don’t know how we get to 50 at the moment,” McConnell said in an interview with Reuters. “But that’s the goal.”

He said there was “not a whole lot of news to be made on health care” and did not offer a timetable for passage of the Republican health care bill.

McConnell told Reuters that tax legislation would be less “challenging” to get through Congress than the legislation to repeal Obamacare, and said he does not plan to work with congressional Democrats to advance his legislative agenda.

It took congressional Republicans two tries to get the repeal bill through the House. They pulled the first iteration of the bill after failing to muster the votes to pass it, amid defections from hardline conservatives and moderate Republicans, and narrowly passed the second iteration despite unified opposition from Democratic members.

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  1. This is only a semi-rhetorical question.

    Who votes for these people?

  2. I have an answer for you Mitch:

    1. Pay Trump a visit when he returns to the WH and tell him to resign by the end of the month or you will personally find the votes needed to get to 67 to remove him from office and will have a sense of the Senate resolution passed to that effect. Tell Pence to resign. He’s a fucking accessory to multiple crimes. The appointed VP should be a consensus pick between Senate Dems and GOPers.

    2. Pay Ryan a visit and tell him to get articles of impeachment ready for Trump. Tell Ryan to resign the Speakership. Recommend HRC be submitted as a candidate for Speaker and support her election to the post. She becomes President by the laws of succession.

    3. Give Schiff and Warner the full green light to go after everyone in the circle of treason. Give Mueller whatever he wants. Approve the independent commission.

    4. Compromise w/Dems: auto-enrollment into medicaid for all those w/out insurance; pay insurance companies the risk corridor money they’re owed; no other changes to Obamacare.

    5. We’ll throw in a couple of bridges for you in KY.

    6. We’ll give you a bit of a tax cut in xchg for some corp loophole removal and fully financed transportation improvements (including my own state’s high speed rail project in CA).

  3. GOP : OMG! Obummercare is a disaster! Repeal! Repeal! Death spiral! Job killer! It will destroy America!
    GOP voters : Holy crap! That sounds terrible, get rid of it!
    GOP : ummm, err, we were actually lying to you and it isn’t that bad after all.

  4. I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to skirt those pesky rules, too.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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