Despite multiple failed attempts to pass a repeal-and-replace bill for Obamacare, the Senate Republicans are planning yet another effort at pushing through a bill this week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is bringing to the floor the Obamacare repeal bill passed by the House of Representatives during the spring, according to a report by The Washington Post. Once that bill appears on the floor, he will then permit senators to substitute either of the Senate bills or new bills altogether. The goal seems to be to at least begin discussion on the bill with the hope that, as senators hash through their differences, they will eventually arrive at a compromise that can garner support among at least 50 senators.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has denounced the latest tactic because it forces senators to vote on health care legislation even though they "don’t know whether we’re going to be voting on the House bill, the first version of the Senate bill, the second version of the Senate bill, a new version of the Senate bill or a 2015 bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act now and then said that somehow we’ll figure out a replacement over the next two years."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., summed up this concern more succinctly: "The real question is, what are we moving to? What are we opening debate to?"
Even legislators who support opening debate seem to have reservations. As Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters, "It’s feeling like a bazaar, like . . . we’re throwing money in a lot of different directions but potentially not moving in a place that’s coherent."
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