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Morning Briefing

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Monday, Jul 17 2017

Full Issue

Delay Provides Breathing Room To Net More Votes, But Also Gives Time For Doubts To Fester

Both moderate and conservative Republicans on the fence about the proposed legislation, with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine saying at least eight of her colleagues have expressed concerns.

Eight to 10 Republican U.S. senators have serious concerns about Republican healthcare legislation to roll back Obamacare, moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, who opposes the bill, said on Sunday. (7/16)

Republicans already lost two of their members on the revised bill 鈥 the moderate Collins and Kentucky conservative Sen. Rand Paul, who said they would vote against a procedural motion to bring the bill to the floor聽鈥 and can鈥檛 afford to lose a third.聽Without McCain鈥檚 vote in favor, the bill does not have enough support to pass. (Collins and Sullivan, 7/16)

The delay in Senate action on the health care bill will allow more opponents of the 2010 health care law to understand how much of the Democrats' original legislative approach survives in the GOP鈥檚 current bill, Paul said Sunday on CBS鈥 鈥淔ace the Nation.鈥 (Young, 7/16)

A vocal conservative opponent of the measure, Sen. Rand Paul, predicted the delay would strengthen critics鈥 position by giving them more time to mobilize against the bill. 鈥淭he longer the bill is out there, the more conservative Republicans are going to discover it is not repeal,鈥 Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday in an interview with CBS鈥檚 鈥淔ace the Nation.鈥 (Viebeck, 7/16)

Moderate senators like Ohio鈥檚 Rob Portman, Alaska鈥檚 Lisa Murkowski and Nevada鈥檚 Dean Heller are still on the fence about the bill, worried about its deep cuts to Medicaid. At the other end of the spectrum, conservative Sen. Mike Lee is undecided even after GOP leaders tried to include his idea for rolling back more of Obamacare鈥檚 regulations. (Cancryn, 7/15)

Pessimism peppered appearances by senators on this week鈥檚 Sunday show circuit, including the two senators who last week came out against the motion to proceed on the bill. 鈥淎t the end of the day, I don鈥檛 know whether it will pass,鈥 Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the 鈥渘o鈥 votes, told CNN鈥檚 鈥淪tate of the Union.鈥 (Shelbourne, 7/16)

Senate Republicans are in a grumpy mood these days. Then there鈥檚 John Cornyn, who鈥檚 almost unfailingly optimistic about the GOP鈥檚 chances of passing its Obamacare repeal bill despite the increasingly long odds. 鈥淚 mean, if you鈥檙e going to be in a leadership role, you don鈥檛 have the luxury of public hand-wringing,鈥 Cornyn, the Senate majority whip, said in a recent interview in his Capitol office. (Kim and Everett, 7/16)

The longer Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare flounder, the clearer it becomes that President Donald Trump鈥檚 team and many in Congress dramatically underestimated the challenge of rolling back former President Barack Obama鈥檚 signature achievement. The Trump transition team and other Republican leaders presumed that Congress would scrap Obamacare by President鈥檚 Day weekend in late February, according to three former Republican congressional aides and two current ones familiar with the administration鈥檚 efforts. (Cook and Everett, 7/17)

Republicans hammered Democrats seven and a-half years ago for larding Obamacare with state-specific payoffs and sweeteners to secure the last few votes for passage... But the revised Senate Obamacare repeal bill shows Republicans engaged in the same pattern of horse trading as they try to win 50 ayes to advance an unpopular bill. (Demko, 7/14)

Meanwhile, a look at the individual senators who will make or break the legislation聽鈥

The fate of Republican legislation to repeal and replace major parts of ObamaCare rests on a handful of senators who have strong reservations about the bill and a variety of political reasons to either support or oppose it.聽Two Republicans have already said they will vote against a motion to proceed to the bill next week, giving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) no margin for error. (Bolton, 7/15)

Health care legislation is hanging by a thread in the Senate, and no one is under more pressure than Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada. Heller was already seen as the most endangered GOP incumbent senator in next year's midterm elections. He is the only one running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Werner and Noon, 7/14)

Ron McArthur is a man with big plans. As head of the chief medical provider in this rural slice of eastern Arizona, McArthur firmly believes what鈥檚 good for Summit Healthcare is good for communities tucked in the foothills of the White Mountains. 鈥淲e鈥檙e the economic engine,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e sponsor everything, we鈥檙e the biggest employer, we offer the highest-paying jobs.鈥 (Barabak, 7/17)

As with most things politics, Ohio is playing an outsized role in the national debate, especially with two key Republican players in Ohio Gov. John Kasich and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman. The two fill very different roles - Kasich as the intra-party opposition force and Portman as one of the key votes in moving the legislation forward. (Richardson, 7/16)

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman characteristically is not ready to take a stance on the newest version of the GOP health care bill unveiled Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Ohio's Republican junior senator still has concerns about cuts to Medicaid in the new bill, which looks a lot like the previous version, which Portman opposed. (Tobias, 7/14)

One big reason Senate Republicans are having trouble uniting around a plan to overhaul the nation鈥檚 health coverage is that a lot of them just don鈥檛 get along. These intra-party clashes of personality and policy stymie the bill鈥檚 progress as much as any other political force. (Wise, 7/17)

Moderate Republican senators who opposed the original Obamacare replacement bill will face increased pressure from health care advocates to hold the line next week in a possible vote on the revised legislation... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a vote, possibly as early as Tuesday, on a motion to allow a floor vote on the amended Better Care Reconciliation Act, which was unveiled on Thursday to heavy criticism from a variety of health care groups. (Pugh, 7/14)

With Republicans鈥 health care bill in jeopardy, the White House is once again turning to a series of unrelated themed weeks to organize President Donald Trump鈥檚 schedule. ...聽Administration officials bristled at the notion that the themed weeks could distract from the debate over repealing and replacing Obamacare, one of the president鈥檚 biggest policy priorities. (Restuccia, 7/16)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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