Senate leaders delay health care vote, lacking GOP support

WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders announced Tuesday that they are delaying a vote on legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, giving up their goal of passing the bill before Congress adjourns for the July Fourth recess.

"We're going to continue the discussions within our conference on the differences that we have that we're going to try to litigate," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters after informing GOP senators of the delay. "We're still working on trying to get to at least 50 people in a comfortable place (to vote for the bill)."

President Trump told Senate Republicans to keep trying.

"We have really no choice but to solve this situation," Trump said after inviting GOP senators to the White House for a late-afternoon meeting. "Obamacare is a total disaster."

It had become clear since the bill was released last Thursday that McConnell did not have enough votes among his own GOP members to advance the legislation to the floor this week. Conservatives complained that the bill does not go far enough to repeal Obamacare, while moderates feared it would hurt their constituents by throwing too many people off Medicaid. McConnell needs at least 50 of the 52 GOP senators to vote for the bill. Vice President Pence can come in to break a 50-50 tie and approve the legislation.

GOP leaders said they will continue negotiating with their members to try to reach consensus on a bill they can bring up soon after the recess. Many senators had complained that the vote was being rushed this week, giving them little time to study the proposal or improve the legislation.

"I'm hopeful," said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., after leaders decided to delay the vote. "I think this gives us ... breathing room."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said "the hope is we can at least have an agreement on what we can get enough votes on this week and turn to it as soon as we come back, but we'll see."

Senate leaders decided to delay the vote after it became clear that they couldn't even clear a procedural hurdle to bring the bill up for consideration. Four Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky — said they would vote against a motion to bring the bill to the Senate floor unless significant changes were made. McConnell could only afford to lose two Republicans to win the procedural vote.

Johnson said he was grateful for the delay.

"Again this is very difficult and the pressure we're under time-wise is these (insurance) markets that are collapsing under Obamacare," he said. "We're gonna work really hard."

Leaders now have more time to make changes in the bill to make it more attractive to critics. For example, they could add more money to fight opioid addiction, which is a nationwide problem but has hit states such as Ohio and West Virginia especially hard. The current bill provides just $2 billion to battle the opioid crisis. Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia had wanted $45 billion.

The projected reduction in the deficit provided by the bill gives McConnell about $200 billion to put toward opioids, Medicaid or funding for rural hospitals — all things that could help win over some senators.

But it gets tricky because changes that might appeal to moderates like Collins or Heller could further alienate conservatives like Paul. Generally, conservatives want a nearly complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, which they see as the only way to reduce insurance premiums. Moderates fear the bill strips too many struggling Americans of medical coverage under Medicaid and will drive away health care providers who serve rural areas.

"I have so many fundamental problems with the bill ... that it's difficult to see how any tinkering is going to satisfy my concerns," Collins said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said McConnell will use the "slush fund" to try to cut "backroom deals" to win GOP votes, but he said the bill remains fundamentally flawed.

"If our Republican colleagues stick to this base bill, which so hurts working families ... we're gong to fight the bill tooth and nail and we have a darn good chance of defeating it a week from now, a month from now, a year from now," Schumer said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said it's time for Senate Republicans "to shelve" the bill rather than merely delaying it.

"This is a plan for more huge tax cuts for the wealthiest, in the guise of a health plan," Leahy said. "It would take away health insurance from 22 million Americans and leave millions more with less coverage, at higher costs. They should abandon this reckless exercise."

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Americans are still counting on Congress to replace Obamacare with something better. The House passed a health care bill in May, but the Senate didn't like it and insisted on writing its own version.

"Though the schedule may have slipped a little bit, we are intent on saving Americans from a failed system," Thune said.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said he would have voted against the bill if it had come to the floor this week without major changes.

"The Senate health care bill missed the mark for Kansans and therefore did not have my support," he said in a statement. "I am pleased with the decision to delay the vote — now is the time to take a step back and put the full legislative process to work."

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he believes the differences among the GOP senators on the bill can be resolved. The delay, he said, shows that "Republican senators really care about getting this right."

But Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said it was simpler than that.

"When you’re short (on votes), you’re short," he said. "Right now, we're short."

Contributing: Craig Gilbert, David Jackson, Deborah Barfield Berry

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