Republicans fail again to kill off Obamacare in U.S. Senate

[webfact]

Republicans fail again to kill off Obamacare in U.S. Senate

By Susan Cornwell

 

Another Republican attempt to dismantle Obamacare collapsed in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday as the party was unable to win enough support from its own senators for a bill to repeal the healthcare reform law.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republicans on Tuesday fell short yet again in their seven-year drive to repeal Obamacare, in a bitter defeat that raises more questions about their ability to enact President Donald Trump's agenda.

 

The party was unable to win enough support from its own senators for a bill to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act and decided not to put it to a vote, several Republicans said. The bill's sponsors vowed to try again, but face steeper odds after Sunday, when special rules expire that allow them to pass healthcare legislation without Democratic support.

 

"We basically ran out of time," said Senator Ron Johnson, a co-sponsor of the measure with Senators Bill Cassidy, Lindsey Graham and Dean Heller.

 

Republicans have now repeatedly failed to deliver on their longtime promise to roll back former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature domestic accomplishment.

 

They have yet to achieve any major domestic policy successes in Congress this year, which could hurt their efforts to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives in the November 2018 congressional elections.

 

Republicans widely view Obamacare, which provides coverage to 20 million Americans, as a costly government overreach. Trump vowed frequently during the 2016 election campaign to scrap it. Democrats have fiercely defended it, saying it has extended health insurance to millions.

 

After falling short in July, Senate Republicans tried again this month with a bill that would have given states greater control over the hundreds of billions of dollars that the federal government spends annually on health care.

 

As before, they ran into objections from members on the right and the centre who opposed repeal for essentially opposite reasons.

 

Senator Susan Collins, a moderate, complained it undermined the Medicaid programme for the poor and weakened consumer protections. Senator Rand Paul, a conservative, said it left too many of Obamacare's regulations and spending programs in place.

 

Democrats said it was time for Republicans to work with them to fix Obamacare's shortcomings, and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander said he would resume talks with Democratic Senator Patty Murray to shore up the law's insurance subsidies.

 

Shares of healthcare providers ended broadly higher. Hospital company HCA Healthcare Inc <HCA.N> rose 1.8 percent, while insurer Centene Corp <CNC.N>, which focuses on Medicaid, rose 2.2 percent.

 

The insurance industry, hospitals, medical advocacy groups such as the American Medical Association, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society, the AARP advocacy group for the elderly and consumer activists opposed the latest bill.

 

TRUMP DISAPPOINTED

 

Trump said on Tuesday his administration was disappointed in "certain so-called Republicans" who did not support the bill. The Republican president said later he still had not given up hope that the law would eventually be repealed. "It'll happen," he told reporters while travelling to New York for a fundraiser.

 

Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and at least three senators - Collins, Paul and John McCain of Arizona - had publicly rejected the bill.

 

Republicans crafted special rules earlier this year that allowed them to pass a bill with a simple majority in the 100-seat chamber. After those rules expire at the start of the new fiscal year on Sunday, they will need at least 60 votes to advance most legislation.

 

John Thune, a member of the Republican leadership in the Senate, said the party would likely not try to undo Obamacare again until it was clear there were enough votes for it. He said the party would now focus on overhauling the U.S. tax code - another complex undertaking that could meet with stiff resistance from a wide range of interest groups.

 

A CBS poll on Monday showed 52 percent of Americans disapproved of the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill, while 20 percent approved.

 

"I will readily admit that the Republican Party has done a bad job of explaining what we're for in terms of replace on Obamacare," Republican Senator Ben Sasse said on the Senate floor.

 

Six protesters staged a "die-in" on the floor of a Senate office building, lying on the ground and covering their heads and bodies with a white shroud to represent what they said would be lives lost if the bill passed.

 

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the number of people with health insurance covering high-cost medical events would be slashed by millions if the latest Republican bill had it become law.

 

The CBO also found that federal spending on Medicaid would be cut by about $1 trillion from 2017 to 2026 and that millions of people would lose their coverage in the programme, mainly from a repeal of federal funding for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.

 

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Amanda Becker Yasmeen Abutaleb and Susan Heavey in Washington and Jeff Mason and Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell; Editing by Bill Trott and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-27

[khwaibah]

The GOP could not orchestrate a cluster fork at a chines fire drill.

[Samui Bodoh]

SEVEN years

 

The Republicans ran on the repeal and replacement of ObamaCare for SEVEN years.

 

And they failed.

 

What a bunch of incompetent idiots.

 

[tonray]

Until the 2018 elections...they will continue to try and the latest is that they will attach it to the tax reform legislation in the next session which will be under same 50 vote needed rules and then it may have a better chance as tax cuts will be the inducement to vote for it...especially right before the election.

[craigt3365]

Can somebody tell me why they want to kill the ACA?  Starting back when Obama was in office?  Pure BS politics? 

 

Give it up guys.  Focus on something better.  Get something done.  Like reforming congress. LOL.  An approval rating of 20% or less is pretty bad.

[tonray]

9 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

Can somebody tell me why they want to kill the ACA?  Starting back when Obama was in office?  Pure BS politics? 

 

Give it up guys.  Focus on something better.  Get something done.  Like reforming congress. LOL.  An approval rating of 20% or less is pretty bad.

Congress does not care about approval..90% of all districts are safe due to gerrymandering. The Dems got their clock cleaned after the last census and failed in almost every court challenge. That is why Pelosi, who is a great fundraiser, needs to go because she is part of the problem. If they fail to win the House back in 2018...prepare for a Trump win in 2020 and Obamacare repeal and every other draconian law you have dreaded. The left is hapless because they are not true progressives with any bold ideas for the future...same old crap...and Trump has brilliantly capitalized on it while dismantling any good that came from it.

[craigt3365]

1 minute ago, tonray said:

Congress does not care about approval..90% of all districts are safe due to gerrymandering. The Dems got their clock cleaned after the last census and failed in almost every court challenge. That is why Pelosi, who is a great fundraiser, needs to go because she is part of the problem. If they fail to win the House back in 2018...prepare for a Trump win in 2020 and Obamacare repeal and every other draconian law you have dreaded. The left is hapless because they are not true progressives with any bold ideas for the future...same old crap...and Trump has brilliantly capitalized on it while dismantling any good that came from it.

[siamike]

1 hour ago, tonray said:

Congress does not care about approval..90% of all districts are safe due to gerrymandering. The Dems got their clock cleaned after the last census and failed in almost every court challenge. That is why Pelosi, who is a great fundraiser, needs to go because she is part of the problem. If they fail to win the House back in 2018...prepare for a Trump win in 2020 and Obamacare repeal and every other draconian law you have dreaded. The left is hapless because they are not true progressives with any bold ideas for the future...same old crap...and Trump has brilliantly capitalized on it while dismantling any good that came from it.

I suspect that Trump will no longer be POTUS by the end of 2018.  It seems likely that special counsel Robert Mueller will bring multiple criminal charges against Trump in the coming months, leaving the Republican controlled congress little choice but to impeach Trump.  

[halloween]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

Can somebody tell me why they want to kill the ACA?  Starting back when Obama was in office?  Pure BS politics? 

 

Give it up guys.  Focus on something better.  Get something done.  Like reforming congress. LOL.  An approval rating of 20% or less is pretty bad.

Why did Yingluk reinstate the B30 charge on the Thai health system? Because in 2 party politics you can't let the other side have a milestone win.

[boomerangutang]

Never in the history of US politics have so many, spent so many hours and millions of dollars, to achieve so little.  (apologies to Winston Churchill).

 

Noam Chomsky said it plainly:  "The Republican Party is the most dangerous organisation on earth"
source 

 

If you take into account the Republican's idiotic stance against climate change, then it's doubly true.

[boomerangutang]

12 minutes ago, siamike said:

I suspect that Trump will no longer be POTUS by the end of 2018.  It seems likely that special counsel Robert Mueller will bring multiple criminal charges against Trump in the coming months, leaving the Republican controlled congress little choice but to impeach Trump.  

Mueller's team will SUGGEST charges.  But it will be up to slug-brained Republican politicians to implement or not.  Already, Republicans have shown they can gladly fly in the face of fact or science or truth.   Republicans have no allegiance to truth or decency.  They can only march lockstep to their party banner.  

[kamahele]

The rich white folks have convinced working class whites that the right to insurance is a hand out to people who do not deserve help (white working class). They have poured money into the coffers of the Republican party and into misleading advertising. It's a shame that we are so gullible. The fact of the matter is, taxpayers and those who can afford insurance and medical treatment would pay for those who can't afford insurance anyway through taxes and higher medical costs to cover their treatment if there was no ACA. The ACA is not perfect and needs fixing. It would be easier and  to  fix it rather than get rid of it.

[tomwct]

Yes, too many RINO's (Republicans in name Only) still in the Senate. A few McCain, McConnell, ect, but the good news a RINO was defeated today in Alabama. McConnell's man Sen. Strange was defeated my Judge Moore. Judge Moore is a true conservative and will back Trump's agenda and not the Swamp's! Another RINO said he would not run for re-election next year from Tennessee, Sen Corker. The conservatives will run a "real" conservative from the Red State of Tennessee. So, as we drain the swamp, the USA will continue to make America Great Again one day "election" at a time. God Bless America!

Edited September 27, 2017 by tomwct
Add more detail.

[siamike]

4 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Mueller's team will SUGGEST charges.  But it will be up to slug-brained Republican politicians to implement or not.  Already, Republicans have shown they can gladly fly in the face of fact or science or truth.   Republicans have no allegiance to truth or decency.  They can only march lockstep to their party banner.  

There's actually an ongoing debate among legal scholars as to whether or not a sitting POTUS can be charged in a criminal court by a state or federal prosecutor, with most agreeing that the final decision will have to made by the supreme court.  Many, perhaps most, of those same legal scholars believe that it would be an extremely dangerous precedent to set should the supreme court find that POTUS Trump is above the law and cannot be prosecuted in criminal court.  So while I agree with you that Mueller can only present congress with the evidence and recommend Trump be impeached, that should not stop the FBI from charging Trump in a criminal case, POTUS or not.

[craigt3365]

19 minutes ago, tomwct said:

Yes, too many RINO's (Republicans in name Only) still in the Senate. A few McCain, McConnell, ect, but the good news a RINO was defeated today in Alabama. McConnell's man Sen. Strange was defeated my Judge Moore. Judge Moore is a true conservative and will back Trump's agenda and not the Swamp's! Another RINO said he would not run for re-election next year from Tennessee, Sen Corker. The conservatives will run a "real" conservative from the Red State of Tennessee. So, as we drain the swamp, the USA will continue to make America Great Again one day "election" at a time. God Bless America!

What?  Please stop.  Trump is filling the swamp, not draining it.  And he's accomplishing nothing to MAGA.  Actually, quite the opposite.  Amazing some still believe in Trump.

[tomwct]

5 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

What?  Please stop.  Trump is filling the swamp, not draining it.  And he's accomplishing nothing to MAGA.  Actually, quite the opposite.  Amazing some still believe in Trump.

You Lefties need to stop dreaming and smell the coffee!

[craigt3365]

4 minutes ago, tomwct said:

You Lefties need to stop dreaming and smell the coffee!

I'm far from being a lefty.  You righties need to quit labeling people.  It doesn't help anything and quite often is wrong.

[Berkshire]

34 minutes ago, tomwct said:

Yes, too many RINO's (Republicans in name Only) still in the Senate. A few McCain, McConnell, ect, but the good news a RINO was defeated today in Alabama. McConnell's man Sen. Strange was defeated my Judge Moore. Judge Moore is a true conservative and will back Trump's agenda and not the Swamp's! Another RINO said he would not run for re-election next year from Tennessee, Sen Corker. The conservatives will run a "real" conservative from the Red State of Tennessee. So, as we drain the swamp, the USA will continue to make America Great Again one day "election" at a time. God Bless America!

I'm sure you know that Sen Strange was Trump's man.  Trump even campaigned for him and he still lost.  Not so much winning for Trump these days. 

 

Moore is an extreme right wing nutbag, not a conservative.  Moore's win actually means the Dems have a better chance in Alabama.

[iReason]

42 minutes ago, tomwct said:

McConnell's man Sen. Strange was defeated my Judge Moore.

Judge Moore is a true conservative and will back Trump's agenda and not the Swamp's!

Boy, that is some pathetic, bizarre spin you put on that one.

 

Trump backs Strange in Alabama GOP Senate primary

"Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Strange’s bid months ago, but the visit marks the first time the president will campaign in person with the embattled incumbent, who also is expected to campaign with Vice President Mike Pence on Monday."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/21/donald-trump-backs-luther-strange-in-alabama-gop-s/

[Ron19]

Two off topic posts have been removed.

[Golgota]

1 hour ago, tomwct said:

You Lefties need to stop dreaming and smell the coffee!

A coffee which smells like debacle for Tangerine#45, right?

I mean it's not like he already built the wall, repealt Obamacare, united US citizen, won the approval of the UN members,etc...

 

[sirineou]

They say that the definition of insanity is, trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

I think a lot of things about the republicans, but I don't think they are insane

I wonder why the republicans would try this repeal again? They must have know that the same objections that defeated it before would play out again.

  There must be a covert strategy, I wonder what it is?

   

[boomerangutang]

11 hours ago, tomwct said:

Yes, too many RINO's (Republicans in name Only) still in the Senate. A few McCain, McConnell, ect, but the good news a RINO was defeated today in Alabama. McConnell's man Sen. Strange was defeated my Judge Moore. Judge Moore is a true conservative and will back Trump's agenda and not the Swamp's! Another RINO said he would not run for re-election next year from Tennessee, Sen Corker. The conservatives will run a "real" conservative from the Red State of Tennessee. So, as we drain the swamp, the USA will continue to make America Great Again one day "election" at a time. God Bless America!

Swamp things by any other name are still swamp things.  Actually, I have more respect for toads and slugs than I do for Republican politicians.   At least swamp animals are true to their nature.  Republicans, on the other hand, are slime who lie as easily as a frog croaks.

 

11 hours ago, siamike said:

There's actually an ongoing debate among legal scholars as to whether or not a sitting POTUS can be charged in a criminal court by a state or federal prosecutor, with most agreeing that the final decision will have to made by the supreme court.  Many, perhaps most, of those same legal scholars believe that it would be an extremely dangerous precedent to set should the supreme court find that POTUS Trump is above the law and cannot be prosecuted in criminal court.  So while I agree with you that Mueller can only present congress with the evidence and recommend Trump be impeached, that should not stop the FBI from charging Trump in a criminal case, POTUS or not.

While prez, Trump can't be officially charged with breaking laws. He can only be impeached.  However, as soon as he's out of office, he has the same vulnerabilities as you or me.  That's one reason (of many) he will hang on the the presidency as long as he can.  Another reason:  He can pardon all his family and other partners in crime.   He may even be able to pre-pardon himself.  I'm guessing he's going to try that.  I say 'pre-pardon' because he did that with Arpaio - long before the legal proceedings come to a conclusion.  In effect, Trump was giving the finger to the AZ justice system and all Arizonans, because AZ had spent a whole lot of effort building a case against Arpaio.  In 5 seconds Trump pissed on all their efforts at bringing a lawbreaker to justice.

[siamike]

Trump cannot, and did not pre-pardon sheriff Joe Arpaio.  Arpaio had been found guilty of criminal contempt and was in fact a convicted felon when Trump announced his pardon.  Trump did pardon Arpaio before the sentencing phase of his trail thereby sparing Joe from ever having to serve time in a federal prison.  There is no legal precedence for a pre-pardon, and most legal scholars are quite certain that the Supreme Court will kill any attempt to pre-pardon anyone.