Senate GOP accepting defeat on Obamacare repeal [View all]

[DonViejo]

Passing a bill by a key end-of-month deadline appears almost impossible for Republicans.

By BURGESS EVERETT 09/07/2017 12:26 PM EDT Updated 09/07/2017 01:50 PM EDT

Senate Republicans are throwing cold water on the idea of holding another Obamacare repeal vote before their opportunity to gut the law on a party-line vote expires at the end of this month.

Though President Donald Trump and some Senate Republicans are pushing a plan being devised by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to block grant federal health care funding to the states and keep much of Obamacare's taxes, the idea of passing the measure by month's end appears almost impossible, according to senators and aides.

The bill isn't finished yet, there is no Congressional Budget Office score, and some Republicans are working with Democrats on a bipartisan plan to shore up insurance markets. Furthermore, Republicans don't have a plan that can get 50 votes. And that means the dream of repealing the law with all GOP votes is slipping away, at least for now, as Republicans turn to tax reform.

"We’ve seen that we don’t have 51 votes to do it, so we’re going to have to do it bipartisan," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas in an interview on Thursday morning. Asked whether the Senate would hold an Obamacare repeal vote before the Senate's budget reconciliation instructions expire, he replied: “I don’t believe so."

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/07/obamacare-repeal-republicans-defeat-242443