The Senate voted Wednesday afternoon against a proposal that would repeal major portions of Obamacare without a replacement legislation.
Senators voted 55-45 against the measure in a procedural vote Wednesday, which likely signals that a full, clean repeal that conservatives are pushing for could not pass the legislative body.
Seven Republicans voted against the measure, including: Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada, John McCain of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Senators voted against a proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare Tuesday evening, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The measure failed to pass the procedural vote litmus test, garnering 57 no votes.
There are currently three proposals lawmakers are weighing: the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), the bill that would institute full, clean repeal of Obamacare without a replacement and a drastically watered down version of Obamacare repeal, called the “skinny repeal.” Thus far, two have been shot down by senators.
The “skinny repeal” is believed to be the only way Republicans can pass a bill through the Senate to send to the House for final negotiations. The bill is likely to include a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate and the medical device tax — a feature that has a great deal of support in the medical lobbying industry and could help get Senate leadership some much needed backing.
Senate leadership is desperate to get to 50 votes on some version of health care reform. Leadership is telling wayward Republican senators that they need to pass a bill, literally any bill, so they can get to negotiations with the House. At that point, the sell is they can fix the legislation.
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