A handful of Senate Republicans are making an 11th-hour attempt to repeal Obamacare before the end of the month.
Tomorrow Sen. Lindsey Graham will be joined by several colleagues to introduce a bill that will essentially offer a lifeline to those already on Obamacare who might otherwise have been kicked off the system by any of the previous repeal bills.
The measure also has built-in incentives for states to develop their own systems to replace the top-down big-government version.
Call us cynical but what stopped Congress from producing a more sound bill before now?
So, um, we’ve very little confidence this will go anywhere in the next two weeks.
But the consolation prize is more Democrat derision after they successfully railroad it once again.
Here’s more from Washington Examiner…
Four Senate Republicans will introduce legislation Wednesday that would provide the Senate with a last-ditch opportunity to repeal and replace Obamacare before a Sept. 30 deadline.
Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Dean Heller of Nevada have attracted a fourth GOP sponsor, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, to a measure that would allow states to decide the fate of Obamacare.
The bill would provide the $1.2 trillion for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and tax credits to states in an attempt to get the states to develop their own healthcare programs. The four lawmakers announced they will introduce the legislation on Wednesday and will be joined by former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
It would be difficult for lawmakers to move it out of Congress this year.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled that in order to use a budgetary rule that would let it pass without any Democrats in the Senate, Obamacare repeal and replace legislation must pass by the end of this month. Passing it after September would require a new budget that sets up another privileged bill in the Senate that can move with only GOP votes.
Republican leaders have voiced tepid support for the effort and have not promised to take up the legislation, but President Trump has signaled he would sign it into law.
