After telling Republican leaders last night that he believes the party would look like “dopes” if they are unable to pass a bill to revamp Obamacare, President Donald Trump awoke this morning to news that even his party’s top man in the Senate believes that the effort is all but dead.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor earlier today pledging to bring the Senate version of the American Health Care Act of 2017 to a vote. However, he admitted that the writing was on the wall for the bill to replace Obamacare, and further efforts would be focused on an effort to repeal the measure.
“I regret that the effort that we repeal and immediately replace Obamacare would not be successful. That doesn’t means we should give up. This doesn’t have to be the end of the story…. We will now try a different way to bring the people relief from Obamacare. I think we owe them at least that much. In the coming days, the Senate will take up a vote on a repeal of Obamacare combined with a stable two-year transition period as we work toward patient-centered healthcare.”
Trump’s declaration that the party would leave the effort with egg on its face stems from the fact that the GOP passed a largely symbolic bill to repeal Obamacare in 2015 with relative ease. The bill was vetoed by then-president Obama as expected, but the effort provided grist for the 2016 election mill, making the issue a springboard that helped launch many Republicans, including the president himself, to electoral victory.
With the collapse of the AHCA already obvious late Monday night, Trump threw his weight behind an effort at simply repealing the bill.
Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2017
However, Tuesday saw more Republicans disembarking the AHCA bandwagon, with West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito taking to Twitter to state her position.
MORE: I will only vote to proceed to repeal legislation if I am confident there is a replacement plan that addresses my concerns.
— Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) July 18, 2017
Maine’s Senator Susan Collins reiterated her stance against the plan when speaking to reporters earlier today.
“I do not support the new plan. A better approach would be…to begin hearings focused on the problems in the ACA, and let’s try to get bipartisan support to fix those egregious flaws.”
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan expressed hope today after meeting with other Republican lawmakers that the Senate would be able to heave a Hail Mary and pass some form of repeal-and-replace legislation despite the current effort’s failure.
“We’re hopeful that the Senate can take the pause it needs to take and move forward on this issue so we can get something done… I’m worried that ObamaCare will stand and the law will continue to collapse and people get hurt in the process.”
Ryan went on to praise the House version of the AHCA that narrowly passed this spring, and asked his fellow Republicans to give their colleagues in the Senate the latitude needed to pass a similar bill. However, he would not opine on a repeal-only strategy.
According to sources, Ryan told attendees of the closed-door meeting that he would meet with McConnell later today to hash out a strategy to go forward on the issue.
The other side of the aisle maintained its withering attack on efforts to change or erase Obamacare. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stated a nearly apocalyptic outcome was likely if the ACA was repealed without a suitable replacement to fill the void.
“Our health care system would implode, millions would lose coverage, coverage for millions more would be diminished. Our healthcare system would be in such a deep hole that repair would be nearly impossible. In fact, passing repeal and having it go into effect two years later is in many ways worse than the Republican healthcare bill that was just rejected by my Republican colleagues.”
[Featured image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]