Senate health bill lacks 50 votes needed to proceed

• Main Author: Moore NS
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arizona Thoracic Society 2017-07-01
• Series: Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care
• Subjects: Senate; ACA; repeal and replace; Obamacare; Pat Roberts; Mike Lee; Lisa Murkowski; Shelley Moore Capito; Susan Collins; politics
• Online Access: http://www.swjpcc.com/news/2017/7/18/senate-health-bill-lacks-50-votes-needed-to-proceed.html

No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. Yesterday (7/17), two additional Senators – Sen. Roberts (R-KS) and Sen. Lee (R-NE) joined Senators Paul (R-KY) and Collins (R-ME) in announcing their intention to vote “no” on the motion to proceed on considering the Senate ACA repeal and replace legislation – effectively blocking Senate consideration of the current Senate Republican health care bill. Senators Paul, Lee and Roberts opposed the bill for not going far enough, while Senator Collins expressed her concern the bill goes too far. With the 4 publicly announced NO votes – Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not have the 50 votes needed to begin debate on the bill, let alone assure final passage. Speculation now turns to what happens next. President Trump has tweeted his preference to let Obamacare fail as a way to force Democrats to negotiate new legislation. Senator McConnell has suggested a series of symbolic votes on full repeal with multi-year delay to work …