The Hill By Alexander Bolton and Peter Sullivan - 06/28/17
Senate Republicans are struggling mightily to find a path forward for their ObamaCare repeal bill, with infighting between moderates and conservatives threatening to create an impasse heading into the July Fourth recess.
GOP leaders say they want to have an agreement on changes to the legislation by Friday, but senators said they made virtually no progress at a lunch meeting on Wednesday. In fact, the two sides appeared to grow further apart.
Conservatives represented by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) squared off against moderates led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) over lunch, according to lawmakers who attended.
They battled over Cruz’s “Consumer Freedom” proposal, which would allow companies to sell health insurance plans that don’t meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
Collins and other moderates expressed strong opposition to the plan, fearing that it would lead to sicker Americans becoming segregated in the insurance markets.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), meanwhile, continued to chastise leadership for not running a more open process in drafting the legislation and ignoring many ideas from rank-and-file colleagues — criticisms he has voiced over the past few weeks.
One senator described the talks as “running in circles.”
Cruz, leaving the lunch, told reporters that most of the discussion was about proposed market reforms to “reduce premiums to make health insurance more affordable for families who are struggling.”
Collins, who is worried about projections that millions of people will lose coverage under the Senate bill, said she remains concerned with “a number of aspects such as coverage, the Medicaid cuts.”
“Tinkering around the edges, adding a bit more money isn’t going to be the answer,” she said.
Walking out of the meeting, Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) said leadership is aiming to come up with a bill by Friday that both moderates and conservatives can embrace, allowing a vote for the week after the July Fourth recess.
Cornyn said leaders want “to get a bill we can then get scored” by the Congressional Budget Office.
But several Senate Republicans scoffed at the timeline, saying it’s far too optimistic to think a deal can be reached in the next few days.
When asked about the prospects of getting a new bill by Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joked to reporters, “And pigs could fly!”
Collins, fellow moderate Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and conservative Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) all signaled this week they were unlikely to move from no to yes on the legislation by Friday.
Heller said during a tele-town hall meeting Tuesday that he does not think GOP colleagues are “anywhere close” to a deal and warned it would be “very difficult to get me to a yes,” according to Nevada political commentator Jon Ralston, who reported on the event.
Paul declared after the Wednesday lunch that the GOP conference is at “an impasse.”
More:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/339956-gop-infighting-erupts-over-healthcare-bill