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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenate GOP paves way for Obamacare repeal bill
Senate Republicans are paving the way for legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fast-tracked the House bill on Thursday, placing it on the Senate calendar and allowing it -as expected- to skip over the committee process.
Senate Republicans are writing their own proposal, but will use the House bill as a shell to get their own bill through the upper chamber. McConnell's move will allow him to quickly bring up the legislation once Republicans are ready to vote.
McConnell predicted after a closed-door caucus lunch this week that Republicans would be moving forward with their legislation in the "near future."
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But leadership has a narrow path to getting the bill through the Senate. They have 52 seats, meaning they can only lose two GOP senators and still let Vice President Mike Pence break a tie. No Democrats are expected to vote for the bill.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters on Tuesday that "we've already lost (Sen.) Rand Paul, so we're down to 51."
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Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), the chairman of the Budget Committee, announced this week that the House's bill complied with the reconciliation process, which will allow the legislation to clear through the Senate by a simple majority.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), however, countered that the Senate parliamentarian had only made a decision about a provision in the House bill, not the entire legislation.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-gop-paves-way-for-obamacare-repeal-bill/ar-BBCjqRR?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp
crazylikafox
(2,752 posts)karynnj
(59,495 posts)Using the House bill as a shell does not mean that the new bill complies. It would have to be ruled on itself. (In addition, Bernie Sanders is pretty accurate on legislation.) I believe that more than just Rand said no to the House bill as passed.
In addition, even if the Senate bill is okayed for passage under reconciliation, if it differs from the House bill - even by a comma being added - if passed, it goes to a House/Senate committee and the resulting compromise has to pass both Houses. It is not at all clear that a compromise could be found that would pass both Houses.
(Caveat - they have promised killing ACA so long, that they might just pass any garbage because each might be seen as having more to lose being seen as the one who allowed it to live. )