WASHINGTON — Despite deep divisions within the GOP, the Senate could vote on a revamped health care bill as soon as next week, Texas Sen. John Cornyn told reporters on Monday, setting a new deadline for the party to pass a long-awaited Obamacare overhaul.
Cornyn has previously said the Senate will vote on legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act by August. But that deadline was sped up — and then missed — when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged a vote by late June, but later called it off amid widespread disagreement within the party.
“We’re just trying to get a good picture of what the alternatives are, and hopefully next week we’ll be prepared to take the bill up and vote on it,” Cornyn said Monday, according to The Hill.
But he was vague when asked when a revised draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act will arrive, telling reporters later Monday afternoon, “Hopefully soon.”
His comments come as Republicans return from Fourth of July recess with mounting pressure to reach agreement. After hopes to coalesce behind a measure collapsed ahead of the holiday break, more than a few senators have said the draft is essentially dead.
President Donald Trump, whose agenda has largely stalled in Congress, signaled impatience with the lack of progress in a tweet Monday morning.
“I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!” he said on Twitter, adding fuel to an already brewing discussion over whether to cancel the month-long August recess in order to finish health care and make progress on other issues.
Cornyn, whose job as majority whip is to secure the needed votes, said he wants to resolve the health care issue before that’s necessary.
“I don’t think stringing it out any longer than next week helps us with the product,” he told The Hill. “My personal goal is to have it up on the floor ready to vote, have the vote-a-rama, next week.”
From the White House on Monday, legislative affairs director Marc Short re-upped the urgency.
“This is a promise Republicans have made to voters, this is a promise he expects them to deliver on,” he said.
Trump has floated the idea of the GOP passing a simple repeal bill if they can’t reach agreement. Short said on Monday that the White House still prefers the Senate measure that would amend the health care law.
But first, McConnell has to bridge the divide between conservatives, who say the bill doesn’t go far enough in undoing the ACA, and moderates, who worry about throwing millions off Medicaid and want to explicitly protect people with pre-existing conditions.
Some see an amendment by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Utah Sen. Mike Lee as a potential solution. Under the plan, insurers would be able to sell any health care plan, as long as they offer one compliant with ACA regulations. Many health policy analysts say it would undoubtedly drive up costs for the elderly and sick.
The measure has faced criticism from within the GOP — as well as Democrats — for harming protections for people with pre-existing conditions by essentially creating two insurance marketplaces: an affordable one for the healthy, and a costly one for people with greater medical needs.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a key moderate whose support has become critical in the debate, reportedly dismissed the Cruz-Lee proposal. The GOP, which needs 50 votes to pass the bill under reconciliation, can’t afford to lose many moderates.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has said there’s a “feeling that that’s subterfuge to get around pre-existing conditions,” and if so, “obviously I would object to that,” according to Iowa Public Radio.
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker indicated he could support it, provided it’s tweaked to not undermine pre-existing conditions protections, according to Politico.
In a Sunday interview with “Face the Nation,” Cruz suggested some fellow Republicans had fallen victim to criticism of the bill by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who has called the amendment a “hoax.”
“It’s important for Republicans not to be deceived by the attacks that are coming out of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats,” said Cruz, who has repeatedly cautioned against setting “artificial” deadlines on a health care vote.
Cruz, who has previously called for repealing all of Obamacare’s taxes, has said billions in subsidies tacked onto the bill can help offset costs for qualifying Americans.
The Cruz-Lee amendment is only one issue GOP members have to solve before passing a bill. Among the others is how and when to claw back Medicaid dollars from states that expanded under Obamacare.
Republicans are still waiting on new assessments of their health care proposals from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — reports recently panned by some GOP members but that undoubtedly hold sway when it comes to garnering support.
The overhaul is “test for all of us” Cornyn said, adding he remains “hopeful and optimistic.”
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