Stick A Fork In It: Two More Senators Come Out Against O’care Repeal Bill

Utah Sen. Mike Lee speaks to the Utah House of Representatives at the Utah State Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017, in Salt Lake City. Lee says he will look into whether President Donald Trump has violated the U.S. Cons... Utah Sen. Mike Lee speaks to the Utah House of Representatives at the Utah State Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017, in Salt Lake City. Lee says he will look into whether President Donald Trump has violated the U.S. Constitution by being awarded valuable trademark rights to his own name by the Chinese government. The Republican's statement came in response to a question posed by Utah Democratic Rep. Brian King after the Senator's speech to the state's House of Representatives, asking if he would investigate this. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Two more GOP senators announced Monday evening that they are opposed to the Senate Obamacare repeal bill, meaning that even when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) returns from a medical emergency that delayed plans for a vote this week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will not have enough support to even advance the legislation to the floor.

Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) announced on Twitter their opposition to the motion to proceed, a procedural vote that would have opened the bill to debate. In a statement, Lee said he opposed the bill –the Better Care Reconciliation, Act–because it kept some Obamacare taxes and regulations, while an amendment that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) negotiated to earn conservative support was not enough to gain his vote.

Moran, meanwhile, was critical of the “closed door process” as well as the substance of the legislation. “We should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy,” Moran said.

Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Susan Collins (R-ME) had previously announced that they opposed the latest form of the bill, which was unveiled last week.

Republican leaders had hoped to at least get it through the motion to proceed vote, which would start the floor process during which amendments could also be voted on to secure support.

News that McCain had undergone emergency surgery for a blood clot on Friday had forced McConnell to “defer” a vote for the time being. With McCain’s absence, Republicans did not have the 50 votes to even bring the bill to the floor. Lee’s and Moran’s opposition means that at best the legislation will have to undergo more changes to get the 50 votes to pass it.

Latest DC

Notable Replies

  1. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

    Donnie - If you aren’t aware, your presidency is over. Doesn’t matter how many days you stay in the White House, you are a loser.

  2. 2011: “Lemme drive” - Republicans
    2012: “Lemme drive” - Republicans
    2013: “Lemme drive” - Republicans
    2014: “Lemme drive” - Republicans
    2015: “Lemme drive” - Republicans
    2016: “Lemme drive” - Republicans
    2017: “Now…which lever is the velocitator and which the deceleratrix?” - Republicans

  3. They announced together so neither had to feel the heat of being “that guy”.

    I wonder how many “Moderates” will now crawl out of the woodwork going “I’m voting no”?

  4. The floodgates are now open.

    If Mitchie is stupid enough to bring up a motion to proceed, he’ll get 40 or 41 votes.

    It’s toastily toasted.

    Meanwhile, Mitch is having a hard time getting all the egg off his face.

  5. “With four solid votes against the bill, Republican leaders were faced with two options: Try to go back and rewrite the bill in a way that could secure 50 Republican votes, a seeming impossibility at this point, or do as Mr. McConnell promised, and team with Democrats to draft a narrower, bipartisan measure to fix the flaws in the Affordable Care Act that both parties acknowledge.”

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

234 more replies

Participants

Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for leftflank Avatar for sonsofares Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for tao Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for careysub Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for spencersmom Avatar for morrigan_2575 Avatar for woland66 Avatar for demosthenes59 Avatar for kumquat16 Avatar for coprophagoussmile Avatar for aiddon Avatar for eisenst Avatar for ohcomeonnow Avatar for outsidertrading618 Avatar for kenga

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: