McConnell Keeps Foot On The Gas With Eye On Ambitious Health Law Deadline
Republican leaders are still pushing to get a vote before Congress goes on recess for the July Fourth holiday. But it's unclear whether they have enough "yeses" to pass the legislation.
The Wall Street Journal:
Senate GOP Plans Health-Care Vote Next Week
Senate GOP leaders have set a timeline to vote next week on legislation to repeal large chunks of the Affordable Care Act, even though they don’t yet appear to have secured enough support to pass it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is intent on keeping pressure on Senate Republicans to move quickly on the bill rolling back and replacing much of the 2010 health law, lawmakers and GOP aides said. The push for a quick vote before the weeklong July 4 recess could backfire, however, as some conservative and centrist Republicans have expressed concern about the emerging shape of the legislation. (Armour and Peterson, 6/19)
The New York Times:
The Senate Is Close To A Health Care Bill, But Do Republicans Have The Votes?
The 52 Republican senators have been meeting several times a week behind closed doors to develop a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. At least 50 of them must be on board for the bill to pass, and they could try as soon as next week. (Andrews and Park, 6/19)
In other news on the American Health Care Act —
The New York Times:
Senate Democrats Try To Gum Up Works Over Affordable Care Act Repeal
Democrats vowed on Monday to slow work in the Senate to a crawl to protest the secrecy surrounding the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, as Republican leaders raced to prepare a bill for a vote as soon as next week. Without the votes to stop the majority party from passing a bill, Democrats can only draw attention to the way Republicans are creating their bill — behind closed doors without a single hearing or public bill-drafting session. (Kaplan and Pear, 6/19)
The Washington Post:
Senate Democrats Intensify Criticism Of Emerging GOP Health Bill
Senate Democrats ramped up opposition Monday to the emerging Republican health-care bill, launching a series of mostly symbolic moves including speeches that went late into the evening and a push to slow other Senate business to a crawl. The aim, Democrats said, was to draw attention to the secretive process Republican leaders are using to craft their bill and argue that the GOP proposals would hurt Americans. The Democrats lack the power to prevent a vote and they don’t have the numbers to defeat a bill without Republican defections. So they are focusing this week on nonbinding protests. (Sullivan, 6/19)
The Washington Post Fact Checker:
Pelosi’s Claim That An Estimated 1.8 Million Jobs Will Be Lost Through AHCA
Recently attacking the American Health Care Act, the House GOP replacement for Obamacare, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made a new assertion – that it would cost 1.8 million jobs. She seemed to be turning a standard GOP attack line on its head – that the Affordable Care Act was a job killer. In 2010, Pelosi also famously once predicted that Obamacare would “create 4 million jobs, 400,000 jobs almost immediately.” She was citing an optimistic study at the time, and economists will argue forever whether the law spurred employment or was a drag on it. But recent research indicates that, contrary to the spin by both sides, the ACA had minimal effect on employment, hours of work and compensation. (Kessler, 6/20)