Senate GOP paves way for Obamacare repeal bill

Senate Republicans are paving the way for legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fast-tracked the House bill on Thursday, placing it on the Senate calendar and allowing it -as expected- to skip over the committee process.

Senate Republicans are writing their own proposal, but will use the House bill as a shell to get their own bill through the upper chamber. McConnell's move will allow him to quickly bring up the legislation once Republicans are ready to vote.

McConnell predicted after a closed-door caucus lunch this week that Republicans would be moving forward with their legislation in the "near future."

-snip-

But leadership has a narrow path to getting the bill through the Senate. They have 52 seats, meaning they can only lose two GOP senators and still let Vice President Mike Pence break a tie. No Democrats are expected to vote for the bill.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters on Tuesday that "we've already lost (Sen.) Rand Paul, so we're down to 51."

-snip-

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), the chairman of the Budget Committee, announced this week that the House's bill complied with the reconciliation process, which will allow the legislation to clear through the Senate by a simple majority.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), however, countered that the Senate parliamentarian had only made a decision about a provision in the House bill, not the entire legislation.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-gop-paves-way-for-obamacare-repeal-bill/ar-BBCjqRR?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp