Thanks to nine Republican senators who defected on Tuesday night, the repeal of Obamacare that President Donald Trump has been pushing suffered a third defeat. The New York Post reported that on a 57-43 vote, the Senate blocked a proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a plan that is more restrictive.
The vote also rejected the Better Care Reconciliation Act pushed by the GOP. Although it was a procedural vote if the amendment complies with the budget act, the result of the vote implied that the BCRA cannot become law unless it is rewritten substantially.
For the BCRA to pass, 60 votes were needed, but only 43 GOP members voted “yes,” while nine voted “no” along with 48 Democrats for a total of 57 “no” votes.
Magic 9
The New York Times identified the nine GOP senators who voted “no” as Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, Dean Heller, Mike Lee, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, and Paul Rand.
The proposal rejected by the vote included cutting Medicaid and erasing the tax penalties on people who do not purchase insurance which was introduced by Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell. From Sen. Ted Cruz, he introduced language that would allow insurance firms to sell cut-rate policies with minimal coverage.
Open debate on repeal
Earlier, the Senate voted for a floor debate on the Obamacare Repeal on a 50-50 vote.
Vice President Mike Pence broke the tie and voted “yes,” CNN reported. Although floor debate on the bill to overhaul Obamacare will continue on Wednesday morning, there is no guarantee it would pass.
In the afternoon vote, only Collins and Murkowski joined the Democrats, while Arizona Sen. John McCain – who was recently diagnosed with brain tumor – was greeted with applause when he returned to Congress to vote in favor of the debate.
A repeal only proposal would be subject to a vote on Wednesday, but the legislation is also expected to lose. On Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders described the bill as the “cruelest, most destructive and irresponsible piece of legislation ever brought to the United States Senate in the modern history of this country.”
Minority leader Sen.
Chuck Schumer claimed many Republicans do not like the bill but are pressured to vote for the legislation. The lawmakers who would vote for the bill is voting for the removal of millions of Americans of health care, making it more difficult to have insurance for people with pre-existing condition, slashing Medicaid drastically, and giving a hefty tax cut to wealthy people like Trump.
