Monday night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell (R-KY) threw in the towel on the Senate’s version of the Obamacare repeal and replacement bill after two more Republicans (Utah’s Mike Lee and Kansas’ Jerry Moran) announced that they would oppose a motion to proceed. In response, McConnnell announced that he would ask the Senate to vote to “take up the House bill with the first amendment in order being what a majority of the Senate has already supported in 2015 and that was vetoed by then-President Obama: a repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay to provide for a stable transition period to a patient-centered health care system that gives Americans access to quality, affordable care.”
Tuesday morning, President Trump responded to all the political discord in a manner in which only he can. In a series of tweets, Trump efficiently smacked the obstructionist Democrats, shamed those Republicans who are now signaling that they won’t vote for a clean repeal, celebrated the Republicans who backed the legislation, underscored that Obamacare is self-imploding, and all the while exhibiting his campaign-standard “winning” optimism.
Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!
As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!
With only a very small majority, the Republicans in the House & Senate need more victories next year since Dems totally obstruct, no votes!
The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!
The reason conservative senators, including Lee, Moran, and Rand Paul, oppose the Senate bill is because, they argue, it simply doesn’t repeal enough of Obamacare and thus keeps government far too involved in Americans’ health care decisions.
“In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations,” said Lee in a statement Monday.
As for the clean repeal vote, so far two “moderate” Republicans, Maine’s Susan Collins and Ohio’s Rob Portman, have signaled that they would not vote for it.
As Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro put it, the response from Senate Republicans to a straight repeal bill is “an excellent opportunity for conservatives to find out who was serious about Obamacare repeal, and who wasn’t” and a “litmus test for conservative primary challengers.”
So what if the Senate fails to do anything on Obamacare at all? Well, Trump’s tweets included a worst case scenario option: let Obamacare fail on its own, a sentiment he’s expressed previously both in his campaign and as president.
UPDATE:
On Tuesday, Trump told the press that while he’s sitting ready pen in hand to sign a bill, it’s increasingly looking like the best option moving forward is to just “let Obamacare fail“:
More from The Daily Wire on the Senate shelving “Trumpcare”:
After Trumpcare Failure, What Comes Next On Obamacare Repeal?