Mike Lee, Jerry Moran oppose healthcare bill, killing it in current form

Source: Washington Examiner | July 17, 2017 | Josh Siegel

Sens. Mike Lee and Jerry Moran jointly announced Monday night that they will oppose a vote to open debate on the Senate GOP’s healthcare bill, meaning Republicans currently do not have the votes to advance the legislation in its current form.

Lee, R-Utah, and Moran, R-Kan., announced their opposition to the bill in tweets in which they cited one another, but they issued separate statements.

With Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, already coming out against advancing the healthcare bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., no longer has the votes he needs to have least 50 of 52 Republicans on board.

“After conferring with trusted experts regarding the latest version of the Consumer Freedom Amendment, I have decided I cannot support the current version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act,” Lee said. “In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations.”

Lee is referring to a tweaked proposal by his ally and colleague Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The amendment allows insurers to offer less-expensive plans that don’t have to comply with most of Obamacare’s wide range of regulations as long as they also offer a plan that is fully compliant.

Moran, a more centrist senator, cited the “closed-door” process by which the bill was written for not supporting proceeding on the debate of it.

“There are serious problems with Obamacare, and my goal remains what it has been for a long time: to repeal and replace it,” Moran said. “This closed-door process has yielded the BCRA, which fails to repeal the Affordable Care Act or address healthcare’s rising costs. For the same reasons I could not support the previous version of this bill, I cannot support this one.”

Moran added “we should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy.”

Moran called for the Senate to “start fresh with an open legislative process to develop innovative solutions that provide greater personal choice, protections for pre-existing conditions, increased access and lower overall costs for Kansans.”

Some House conservatives were also wanting to start anew with a bill that repeals more of Obamacare. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted that Congress needs a reset.

“Time for full repeal of #Obamacare let’s put the same thing on President Trump’s desk that we put on President Obama’s desk,” he tweeted.

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