Last week, members of the Congress took a brief recess for the 4th of July after Republicans suffered a major setback in their efforts to repeal-and-replace Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, expected to hold a Senate vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (often referred to as BCRA or Trumpcare) prior to recess, yet, appeared unable to find the 50 votes needed to move it through the Senate chamber. As a result, McConnell chose to postpone the vote until after recess. While Congress will return to Washington on July 10th, McConnell has recently hinted he has doubts the bill will pass.
McConnell hints Trumpcare won't pass the Senate
While visiting his home state of Kentucky yesterday, McConnell attended a Rotary Club meeting in which he addressed the subject of Healthcare. While addressing the club, McConnell seemed to acknowledge Trumpcare may not pass the Senate stating, “If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to private health insurance markets must occur."
This is a significant change of tone from last week in which he told ABC News "Good Progress" was being made on the Healthcare bill. Should McConnell fail to pass Trumpcare, he will be required to reach across the aisle to pass a market stabilizing bill provided he can't use reconciliation rules to avoid a filibuster for that variety of legislation.
Later Thursday, the Associated Press approached Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, for comment on McConnell's statement. Schumer responded by saying he was glad McConnell had "opened the door to bipartisan solutions.”
Reports suggest recess is making Trumpcare a tougher sell
It was always more than mere convenience that McConnell wanted to vote on Trumpcare prior to the 4th of July recess.
Many had speculated that if the Senate didn't bring the BCRA to a vote prior to the break, many Senators would be less inclined to vote for the bill after being confronted by angry constituents back home. It appears their fears were substantiated.
After returning to his home state of North Dakota, Senator John Hoeven became the tenth Republican Senator to come out publicly against the bill.
Meanwhile, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who has suggested he is leaning in support of the bill, was greeted to demonstrators in Tombstone costumes outside of his Pennsylvania office. Senator Ted Cruz also faced angry protestors while participating in a Texas parade. Events such as these have likely contributed to the many doubts amongst the Senate Majority leader, in addition to other Republican Senators.
