Senate Republicans said Thursday they won’t vote on the House-passed bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, but will write their own legislation instead according to the Washington Examiner.
A Senate proposal is now being developed by a 12-member working group. It will attempt to incorporate elements of the House bill, senators said, but will not take up the House bill as a starting point and change it through the amendment process the paper said.
Senate Puts the Brakes on the Narrowly-Approved House Health Care Bill
The computer splash screen revealing the Thumbs-up and Thumbs-down hadn’t cooled off before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with Senators Cory Gardner and John Thune started launching the narrowly approved House bill under the bus.
Several important Senate Republicans claim the Senate will ‘set aside the scarcely ratified House version of Trump’s health care bill. Instead, the Senate aims to author their version. Observers say it’s a signal of how daunting it will be to rescue on Republican promises to repeal-and-replace Obamacare.
Even as the House popped the beer top, Lamar Alexander, chair of the Senate health committee and Roy Blunt, a member of GOP leadership, both said any further progress of the bill would be blocked.
Following a paper-thin margin, 217-213, the Senate now is making it clear it will take a another path.
Without adjustments, the House bill will arrive in the Senate significantly clipped from the 50-votes-plus-one needed to pass.
Mitch McConnell came out of his shell just long enough to read a statement which avoids any real talk of anything in the Trump care bill besides acknowledging the House passage.
McConnell will have to come up with something that will pass muster with the Senate.
No one knows how it will then get by the House Freedom Caucus.
Fake News Didn’t Work for Trump as AHCA Slammed Into the CBO
Following Trump’s effort to save face by pulling the bill in March before it was voted on, the Kiddy Choir of Trump Supporters started singing the low-notes of “fake news.” It wasn’t long before the Google disadvantaged began to realize their wonderboy may not be so wonderful. #Trumpgrets showed a spike in Trump supporters who were regretting ever voting for the “yella fella.”
“Fake news” suffered a real loss.
One fear pervasive on Capitol Hill was the idea of Trump’s agenda driven by fake news or what Kellyanne Conway labeled ‘alternative facts.’ Even Sean Spicer, in his first press conference as Trump’s press secretary, doubled down and claimed Trump’s inauguration was the ‘largest in history.’ Trump repeated the debunked claim and went on to say that if millions of fraudulent voters hadn’t emerged, he would have garnered the popular vote.
That kind of talk gets attention. It stirs emotion. And it deflects from Trump’s substantial failings. The talk coming out of Trump’s White House doesn’t get any work done. When it came time to do some the job, the bluster imploded.
The debate over the American Health Care Act in March was traditional. A score from the Congressional Budget Office, a real arbiter of real information, projected the GOP plan would cost 24 million persons their insurance.
Political experts in Washington are anticipating a similar death to today’s House bill.
Jerry Nelson is an American freelance writer and ghostwriter now living the expat life in Argentina. Never far from his coffee and Marlboros, he is always interested in discussing future work opportunities. Email him at jandrewnelson2@gmail.com and join the million-or-so who follow his life and work on Twitter @ Journey_America and Facebook.
Jerry says, “Thanks for being part of my wild and wonderful journey called life.”