Senate GOP accepting defeat on Obamacare repeal

Source: Politico

Passing a bill by a key end-of-month deadline appears almost impossible for Republicans.
By BURGESS EVERETT 09/07/2017 12:26 PM EDT Updated 09/07/2017 01:50 PM EDT

Senate Republicans are throwing cold water on the idea of holding another Obamacare repeal vote before their opportunity to gut the law on a party-line vote expires at the end of this month.

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And that means the dream of repealing the law with all GOP votes is slipping away, at least for now, as Republicans turn to tax reform.

"Weve seen that we dont have 51 votes to do it, so were going to have to do it bipartisan," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas in an interview on Thursday morning. Asked whether the Senate would hold an Obamacare repeal vote before the Senate's budget reconciliation instructions expire, he replied: I dont believe so."

"I don't think there's much of a chance," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman. "I think that was pretty well decided by McCain."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/07/obamacare-repeal-republicans-defeat-242443