Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday said he will hold a Senate vote on a Republican proposal to repeal Obamacare next week, though he currently does not have the support of enough senators for the legislation to proceed.
“At the request of the President and vice president and after consulting with our members, we will have the vote on the motion to proceed to the Obamacare repeal bill early next week,” McConnell announced on the Senate floor.
Within a day of McConnell announcing his proposal to let members vote for a “repeal only” amendment to the House bill, three senators said they will vote against bringing the bill to the floor.
Sens. Lisa Murkowksi (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) announced that they will vote against a motion to proceed. Their defections left the proposal dead before coming to a vote.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon McConnell acknowledged to reporters that Republican leadership “simply” does not have “50 senators who can agree on what ought to replace the existing law.”
He nevertheless said the Senate would vote “sometime in the near future” on a bill to repeal Obamacare without a replacement, which would force senators to register a vote for or against the legislation regardless of whether it ultimately proceeded or not.
Give up already. This is getting pretty ridiculous. Stop and think for a change. Americans don’t want their healthcare taken away.
Oh Goody! Yet another GOP Cluster F*ck in the Senate! Just what we need.
OK, so scratch healthcare – that still leaves the GOP with a diverse agenda of wide-ranging items:
GOP Obamacare Replacement: Cut taxes for billionaires.Maybe the minimum number of Ds required to pass the MTP should vote for it at the last minute. In the spirit of Democratic cooperation. So the R blood letting can continue. Let it come to the floor. Let them talk about it some more. Let them spend some more time showing where they really stand.