The Senate bill is heading into 20 hours of debate. Here's what to expect.
The Senate voted on Tuesday to open debate on their plan to overhaul the US healthcare system.
Exactly which healthcare bill they'll be voting on is still very much up in the air.
Among the options are:
1) The Senate's plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare).
2) A plan to strictly repeal Obamacare.
3) The House of Representative's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Once the motion to proceed passes, here's a rough outline of how the process after the motion to proceed passes.
- We're now headed into 20 hours of debate in legislative time. That's split equally between Democrats and Republicans.
- The first amendment to be voted on is likely to be the ORRA to satisfy Paul and other conservatives. This plan is likely to be shot down by moderates.
- The first amendment to be offered procedurally — but the second to be voted on, the news website Axios reported — would be the BCRA, which was last updated on Thursday. Again, Republicans can afford only two defections.
- According to reports, there is an agreement between Sen. Rob Portman, a more moderate holdout, and Sen. Ted Cruz, a conservative, on an amendment that would keep the structure of the BCRA but allow insurers to sell non-Obamacare-compliant policies and throw in $100 billion to the state stabilization fund. But since that would require 60 votes to pass, and it has not been scored by the Congressional Budget Office, it is almost certainly doomed, since there are only 52 Republicans in the Senate.
- There could then be a series of amendments to the House bill, including those from Democrats. Additionally, other healthcare legislation could be slotted in for a vote.
- Finally, McConnell will try to push the Senate to pass a bundle of smaller amendments focused on repealing aspects of Obamacare like the individual mandate and medical-device tax. After this, the House and the Senate would flesh out a full replacement bill in a conference committee.
We'll be updating this post as the debate continues.
3:40 p.m. - Trump calls out Republican senators who voted against the motion to proceed.
"We had two Republicans that went against us, which is very sad, I think, very very said, for them," Trump said in a press conference. "But I'm very, very happy with the result."
3:30 p.m. - Senate starts by reading the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act (repeal-only bill)
The Senate is currently reading through the ORRA, the straight repeal bill. It is nearly identical to the bill that was vetoed by President Barack Obama in 2015. The bill would repeal all the provisions put in place by the ACA, including key taxes, the Medicaid expansion some states opted into and getting rid of mandates for employers and individuals to provide and have insurance.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, 17 million fewer Americans would have health insurance in 2018, a number that would grow to 32 million by 2026. By 2026, health insurance premiums are expected to double. Cuts to Medicaid would hit $842 billion by 2026.
Protesters in the Senate gallery briefly interrupted the reading of the ORRA.
3:15 p.m. - Senator John McCain returns to vote on the motion.
McCain, who is recovering from brain surgery, was recently diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. McCain said in his speech that he will not vote for the bill as it is today. He pushed for the bill to have input from both parties.
"What do we have to lose to try and work together to find those solutions?" McCain said in a speech Tuesday.
McCain said he'll stay in D.C. for a few days before returning to Arizona for treatment.
3 p.m. - Senate voted to open debate on the bill.
A procedural vote to begin debate on the House's healthcare bill passed Tuesday afternoon by narrow by a count of 51-50, with Vice President Mike Pence serving as the tiebreaking vote.
Every Democrat voted against the motion, along with Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski also voting against it.
The Senate bill is heading into 20 hours of debate. Here's what to expect. Read Full Story
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