Two Republican Senators Say 'No' to Straight Obamacare Repeal

[DonViejo]

Source: U.S. News & World Report




July 18, 2017, at 10:51 a.m.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senators Susan Collins and Shelley Moore Capito said on Tuesday they will not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement healthcare plan.

The senators spoke out shortly after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Senate Republicans planned to vote on a straight repeal of President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act after efforts to overhaul the law collapsed on Monday.

“My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians. With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians,” Capito said in a statement. Collins made her comments to reporters at the Capitol.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2017-07-18/two-republican-senators-say-no-to-straight-obamacare-repeal

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. AND- -- Mccain?????eom

[SHRED]

2. Only 2?

A good start I guess.

[Hokie]

5. I think there will be more of the moderates coming out

Has anyone verified that it would take 60 votes to repeal? I have read that a few places. Regardless, with McCain MIA that should officially kill it if the Democrats stand together.

[videohead5]

9. I Thought

To pass the bill through reconciliation it has to save money.I just seen on MSNBC that repeal would add 137 billion dollars to the deficit.

[MiniMe]

22. I think it has to affect the budget, not necessarily save money

[TexasTowelie]

6. The next announcement will also include at least two senators.

None of the Republican senators wants to be the one known for refusing to repeal Obamacare; therefore, at least two more will send a joint statement. We can only hope that McConnell will be so embarrassed that he will burrow back into his shell and resign in disgrace for being a total failure.

[karynnj]

11. With McCain gone, it means that McConnell can't do anything until he returns ..

and others are likely against this as well.

[Hortensis]

19. O'Donnell said this is just a phony show that will allow McConnell

and senators with hard-core constituencies who insist on repeal to be able to claim a "tough," repeal vote.

They don't expect this to come close to actually passing. In fact, that'd create a whole new crisis for them.

[still_one]

3. Hopefully Ohio and Nevada will be added to that list

[AJT]

4. Mitch Mcturtle just announced they plan on dismantling the ACA and work on another bill.

So "Obamacare" will fail just like they wanted and they will take no blame.......then they will retain the house and senate in 2018. The dems will own the failure instead of the GOP owning their hidious bill. Yeah, we won.

[hibbing]

8. My thoughts too n/t

[karynnj]

12. The Republicans control everything -- and they are getting the blame in every poll on this

McConnell really is running out of options. He likely can not pass the pure repeal or the House bill, that many called DOA as soon as the House passed it.

He really has two choices. Have no healthcare bill meaning that ACA stays in place, burdened by Republican sabatoge as it was, but still viable in most places. (The very public failure of the Republicans might actually lead some more republican governors to allow the Medicaid expansion) An alternative would be to work with Democrats to do the changes that would make ACA better and try to make ACA a bipartisan accomplishment - even though it would always be seen as something Obama did.

I WISH I could believe that McConnell would do the latter because it is good for the country, but he is majority leader partly because he blocked everything he could for 8 years - including any changes that could have corrected minor flaws or dealt with SCJ Roberts having created the problem of people, who should have been allowed on Medicaid, getting nothing. That was never intended in the legislation.

[AJT]

14. They would get the blame if they repealed and replaced, or just repealed.

Obamacare, the dems, will get the blame if they leave the ACA in place and just dismantle it quietly. The GOP reps and senators in red states don't care if people will suffer as they destroy healthcare, in fact it will help them if they can blame Obama. The ACA won't be viable for the people who need it most if they get rid of the provisions regarding premium help, and healthcare companies will keep dropping out of the mandate is eliminated.

[karynnj]

16. I disagree

There are some who will believe what you say, but the majority will see that the Republicans broke it or at at minimum mismanaged it. the responsibility of governing is theirs. Even if there were fatal flaws, it was their job to fix those that apeared when they governed.

[AJT]

20. I guess I was thinking that a large percentage of ACA users are 45 voters.

and they will believe it is Obama's fault unless the GOP passes their own plan or repeals the ACA.

[herding cats]

7. More will follow as people revisit the CBO score on this from January.

It's a devastating testimonial on the humanitarian crisis the GOP have been fantasizing about.

The report is here: https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/reports/52371-coverageandpremiums.pdf

[frazzled]

10. I don't think there is a possibility of it happening

If they couldn't pass the repeal and replace (and they couldn't), they won't be able to pass a straight repeal, which would be disastrous to many more millions. It would kick everyone off expanded Medicaid, remove all provisions regarding spending caps and pre-existing conditions, etc. It's political suicide. I don't even know what they're thinking with this.

[karynnj]

15. The only thing I can think of is they are desperate to pass anything

Other threads have Ryan's plea for tthe Senate to pass anything. This lets the House and Senate try to put something together as a conference bill. The problem is that there is literally NOTHING that they are interested in that could pass both Houses.

I suspect they are facing complete failure on something they promised for 8 years. Until, they controlled everything they could incite their base speaking of how ACA was destroying the country as people knew it. Now, the reality is many of people - including Republicans - see that it is not an evil monster, but their health insurance. It may not be perfect, but it is better than losing it.

McConnell and Ryan both know that pasing nothing is a huge failure.

[Zoonart]

13. Kos article has the No

votes up to six.

[obamanut2012]

17. Capito is a wingnut Senator of a wingnut state, but good for her

She really is voting for her constituents, even though they overwhelmingly voted for the man doing this to them.

I actually think Collins is a very moderate, decent woman, who has zero spine and resolve.

[turbinetree]

18. To all of the dumsh*t republicans and yes independents out in the USA

Now that McConnell has proposed, in his just plain f***ing dick head of the week moment.

He now is going to attach the senate bill, if it passes to just repeal health care in two years, which is to just to eliminate "all" health care insurance in the country at the end of the two year cycle, do you f*cking realize this.

Just think all of you republicans and independents, the gang in power of Congress right now, the same ass****s that you keep putting into office, says, we did not get the all out screwing we wanted to give to you all at this time, so now in a hissy fit, they just want to plain f*ck you and bend you over at the end of two years, there will be no health care coverage insurance.

So have you dimwits figured it out yet, they want you dead, its about the money, they could give a rats ass about you, there main objective in there deplorable life is to rat f*ck you, and make you squeal like a pig

[BumRushDaShow]

21. 3rd one just confirmed by WaPo - Murkowski is a "no"

Collins, Capito, and Murkowski - (3 GOP women)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-suggests-republicans-will-let-aca-market-collapse-then-rewrite-health-law/2017/07/18/5e79a3ec-6bac-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html?utm_term=.a70fb301135c