A nascent effort to resurrect Obamacare repeal this year in the Senate is running into the same roadblock that stymied efforts last year: not enough GOP support.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he is working on a new repeal bill that could come out in “hopefully the coming weeks, not months.” Republicans could be blamed for premium increases on Obamacare’s exchanges in 2019 if they don’t act to repeal the law, he said.
But other Republicans doubt that the votes to repeal Obamacare exist.
Graham said Republicans can’t abandon Obamacare repeal as they will take the blame for 2019 price spikes that are currently being proposed. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate in tax reform last year would cause premiums to spike 15 percent next year.
“All I can tell my colleagues is that we have done just enough on Obamacare to own the rate increases in October,” he said. “We haven’t fulfilled our promise to replace it with something better, and I think something better would be a block grant.”
Graham was referring to an earlier bill that he cosponsored with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would take Obamacare funding and send it to the states through block grants.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., also cosponsored the bill introduced last year as a last-ditch effort to repeal the law. It failed in September because of insufficient support from Republicans, with centrists wary of joining the bill and conservatives saying it didn’t go far enough.
Cassidy said Thursday that he still supports repealing Obamacare and the Graham-Cassidy bill, but bowed to a stark problem Republicans face.
“We don’t have the votes,” he said. “Yes, we are talking about this, but there is a lot that has to happen for it to be more than just talking.”
Other Republicans conceded the same problem.
“The tough thing is we only have 50 Republicans votes right now,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
Republicans control 51 seats in the Senate, but Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been out recuperating from treatments for brain cancer. Republicans are also down a senator from last year with Democrat Doug Jones’ surprise win in Alabama.
Republicans have 50 votes currently because of McCain’s absence and “as a rule, Sen. [Rand] Paul votes no,” Cassidy said.
Paul, R-Ky., said he still opposes the Graham-Cassidy bill and opposed Graham’s revival to bring up repeal again.
“I am not in favor of keeping the taxes in place and shifting it to the states,” Paul told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “I am completely opposed to what he is doing, and I think it is wrong.”
While Vice President Mike Pence can break a 50-50 tie, Republicans had problems when they had 52 senators.
McCain joined Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and Susan Collins, R-Maine, to defeat a “skinny” repeal bill that gutted some of Obamacare’s mandates and other measures last summer.
Johnson said Republicans are exploring if they have any legislation that could win enough support to pass via reconciliation, a procedural move that enables a bill to pass the Senate with only 51 votes instead of 60 needed to break a filibuster.
Reconciliation bills must focus on budgetary and spending levels.
Republicans tried to use the maneuver to repeal Obamacare last year, but efforts to repeal the law’s insurer regulations ran afoul of the Senate parliamentarian, which determines if a bill meets reconciliation requirements.
Johnson said Tuesday that he would put a block grant bill for healthcare at the top of his wish list to be considered via reconciliation.
“Whether or not we have enough colleagues, that would be the $64 [thousand] question,” he said.
Outside conservative groups are also weighing in on what the contours of a repeal bill should look like, which could have an impact on the look of the final product or if conservative senators support it.
The conservative think tank Heritage Foundation is leading an effort with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to draft a new repeal bill.
A group of four outside conservative groups — FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Conservative Partnership Institute and Senate Conservative Fund — wrote in a letter Wednesday a list of longstanding conservative principles that they say any repeal bill should contain to win their support. The principles include repealing the Medicaid expansion and expanding health savings accounts.
