McConnell's last-ditch Obamacare strategy

McConnell's last-ditch Obamacare strategy
The Senate leader is forcing doomed Obamacare vote — and backlash could revive it.
By JENNIFER HABERKORN and SEUNG MIN KIM 07/22/2017 07:30 AM EDT Updated 07/21/2017 07:40 PM EDT

Talking is no longer working. It's time to vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking the rare step of forcing his members to take a tough vote on an Obamacare repeal bill, H.R. 1628 (115), that is on track to fail, making them own their votes.

Senior Senate Republicans believe the high-profile vote expected Tuesday — followed by conservative backlash over the GOP's failure to fulfill its seven-year campaign pledge — might provoke enough heat from the base to bring senators back to the negotiating table.

It seems like a long shot. But McConnell may be playing the long game — making his members walk the plank not as an act of desperation but as part of a strategy that just might work.


http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/22/mitch-mcconnell-obamacare-repeal-strategy-240831