�Թϲ�����

Despite misgivings about the closed-door process used to write a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and its potential impact on rural health care providers, Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran joined his Kansas counterpart, Pat Roberts, in voting to begin debate on the legislation. In a statement released Tuesday, Moran said he has for years been “committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare.” (Mclean, 7/25)

Despite his sharp criticisms of nearly every health-care bill pushed by Republican leadership this year, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman sided with party leaders Tuesday to keep alive the GOP effort to dismantle and replace Obamacare. By joining 49 other Republicans and Vice President Mike Pence, the Ohioan cleared the way for the Senate to launch a floor debate and provide lawmakers with an opportunity to amend a bill Republicans have promised for years. (Torry and Wehrman, 7/26)

With Ohio Republican Rob Portman's support, the U.S. Senate has voted to start debate on sweeping changes to the nation's health insurance rules, including billions in cuts to programs that cover the poor and low-income Americans. No one, including 50 senators who voted to proceed and Vice President Mike Pence, who provided the necessary 51st vote, knows how this will end. (Koff, 7/25)

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner gave his first hint on where he stands on his chamber’s initiative to undo the Affordable Care Act, voting yes Tuesday on a procedural vote that passed after going down to the wire. ...Even a few hours earlier, Gardner aides said the Colorado Republican still hadn’t decided whether he would back it — an approach that tracks with Gardner’s weekslong avoidance of a definitive position. His Democratic counterpart from Colorado, U.S. Michael Bennet, voted no. (Matthews, 7/25)

Republican lawmakers are likely to find a consensus to overturning former President Barack Obama’s U.S. health plan, partly because the cost of inaction would be too high, ex-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said. “The political implications are pretty severe if the party can’t deliver on seven, eight years of promises to repeal and replace Obamacare,” the former congressman, who became a banker at Moelis & Co., said Tuesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. (Rausch and Basak, 7/25)

Both of Iowa’s U.S. senators on Tuesday voted in favor of opening debate on reforms to the health care law known as Obamacare. U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst were among the 50 Republicans voting for the motion to proceed, a procedural step that did not commit lawmakers to specific changes to the law but will allow further debate and amendments. (Noble, 7/25)

Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker sided with other Senate Republicans on Tuesday and voted to move forward with a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, even though no one is certain what the final bill will look like. ...The Senate failed late Tuesday night to pass a comprehensive bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. The bill needed 60 votes to overcome a parliamentary hurdle, but fell short after a number of Republicans rejected the plan. The vote was 43-57. Corker voted against the proposal. Alexander supported it. (Collins, 7/25)

Perdue was on the late shift Monday night as Democrat after Democrat took to the floor in a last-ditch effort to defend Obamacare and trash the GOP’s uncertain repeal plans. Their comments incensed the typically measured Perdue, who has positioned himself as an unwavering supporter of the Trump White House and its agenda. (Hallerman, 7/25)

Just after Republicans voted Tuesday to advance the GOP’s health care bill, Senator Elizabeth Warren took to the steps of the Capitol to denounce the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. ...The Senate, by a hair, voted Tuesday to start debating Republican legislation to tear down much of the Obama health care law. (Prignano, 7/25)

Minnesota’s two U.S. senators voted with all other Democrats against the Senate debating a federal health care law rewrite Tuesday, July 25, pleading to allow the two parties to work together, and a former Republican senator agreed with them. “We can still stop this,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar declared shortly after the vote. “We can still put aside partisanship and instead work together on bipartisan solutions, like lowering the cost of prescription drugs and strengthening the exchanges.” (Davis, 7/25)