Senate GOP Makes Final Push to Repeal ObamaCare

Effort has a 2-week window to pass
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 19, 2017 1:03 AM CDT
Senate GOP Makes Final Push to Repeal ObamaCare
An earlier push to repeal ObamaCare collapsed two months ago.   (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Senate Republicans are expressing growing hope for a final push to scuttle ObamaCare, an effort that still faces an uphill climb and has just a two-week window to pass. Adding more risk, senators would be in the dark about the bill's impact on Americans, since the Congressional Budget Office says crucial estimates won't be ready in time for a vote. Democrats backed by doctors, hospitals, and patients' groups warned of millions losing coverage and others facing skimpier policies. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went further, saying the partisan measure threatened the spirit of cooperation between President Trump and Democratic leaders embodied in a recent budget deal and progress on immigration. "After two weeks of thinking bipartisanship, that flickering candle, might gain some new light, this is the last thing we need," Schumer said.

The revived attempt to uproot Obama's law is being led by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. The White House says Mike Pence is calling senators to seek support. House Speaker Paul Ryan says the House will vote on the bill if it passes the Senate. Ryan calls it "our best, last chance to get repeal and replace done." The 140-page bill would replace much of Obama's statute with block grants to states and give them wide leeway on spending the money, the AP reports. It would let states ease coverage requirements under that 2010 law, end Obama's mandates that most Americans buy insurance and that companies offer coverage to workers, and cut and reshape Medicaid. (More ObamaCare stories.)

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