Senate Republicans admit defeat on health bill as Collins declares her opposition [View all]

[DonViejo]

By Sean Sullivan and Juliet Eilperin September 25 at 6:20 PM

BREAKING: Senate GOP leaders admitted defeat late Monday afternoon in their latest attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act, as a third Republican lawmaker said she would not support the legislation.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters that he did not think the measure would come up for a floor vote by the end of the week, after which point Republicans lose the budget authority they need to pass a health-care bill by a simple majority. A short time later, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced her opposition.

Collins’s decision followed a preliminary projection from the Congressional Budget Office that said “millions” fewer Americans would have insurance coverage by 2026 under the Cassidy-Graham proposal. In a statement, Collins said the analysis “confirms that this bill will have a substantially negative impact on the number of people covered by insurance.”

Both GOP Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and John McCain (Ariz.) also have said they would not vote for the bill.

Senate Republicans aired the details of the latest effort to undo the Affordable Care Act at a raucous hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, with little evidence that the last-minute changes would secure enough votes for the legislation’s passage.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/new-version-of-health-care-bill-will-help-alaska-and-maine--home-of-two-holdout-senators/2017/09/25/24697f62-a188-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html