With Congress back to work in September, the divisions in the Senate began to reveal themselves again in the fight over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Despite the repeated failures by Republicans to repeal the Health Care Law this year, Republicans who showed their support for President Trump's determination to kill the law were gearing up for another shot to repeal it before the September 30 deadline.

Bipartisan legislation and John McCain

At the same time, Republicans who identify as more moderate -- or at the very least, realized that it was time to move on to other legislation -- have made a bipartisan effort to help stabilize insurers in the ACA's marketplace.

Both sides of the aisle were looking to convince their leadership to make a move and according to a report by Politico titled: "Senate GOP tries one last time to repeal Obamacare", Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would bring another attempt to repeal if Republicans were able to 50 members of their own party to support the effort.

Last week, it was determined that any of these decisions would only result in more divisions within the upper chamber. This was revealed with the indication from those who were leading the latest repeal effort, felt they could get the support of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was one of the more valued Republican senators who sunk the last voting attempt in July.

He already indicated, however, over the weekend that the latest repeal effort would not get his support.

Nonetheless, according to the Politico report, Senate Republicans would be holding private meetings throughout the half-week they have with support from the White House. But those who are working on the side of bipartisanship already had the support of Sen.

McCain on their side. McCain said in an interview with Face the Nation on Sunday that the process should include leadership from both parties working with the President. Despite Trump's pivot towards Democrats over the budget ceiling and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) plan, President Trump has been adamant about repealing the ACA.

Graham's uphill battle

Sen. Graham's plan was to replace federal spending for Obamacare with block grants that would go back to the states. McConnell asked the Congressional Budget Office to score the bill on Friday. Graham said during an interview with Fox News on Sept. 6 that his bill was the last and best chance they had to repeal the current health care law. He also said that not being able to pass a repeal bill for lack of one vote was not an acceptable reason for Republicans to give up.

But many Senate Republicans are still standing their ground against Graham's legislation, saying that it was still too much like Obamacare and not a full repeal, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). All who support it -- which are few -- believe there's a chance they could pass it, while other Republicans are saying that they don't have the votes.

The Politico report also referred to a source from the White House who said that the administration knew it would be a challenge.

Then there are those Republicans who are working to fix Obamacare by shoring up the exchanges. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have already held four hearings over the last two weeks, with the final one last Thursday hoping to bring something to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and McConnell who already indicated his reluctant support for bipartisanship in Congress after the final failure in July.

It's already been quite clear that many Republicans do not support the bipartisan effort currently in the works for two reasons: one being that there is still resistance to work across the aisle with Democrats and the other, that conservatives claim that stabilizing insurance companies under the ACA would be considered a "bail out".

Otherwise, the Alexander-Murray bill would pass as it's supposed to, with a mix of votes from Democrats and Republicans. Despite this, it's up to the House of Representatives and in the end, the President. to determine the final outcome.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED