July 18, 2017

ZOMBIE TRUMPCARE SHOT IN THE HEAD AGAIN.


Mark Wilson / Getty Images
  • The Republican Senate bill to repeal and replace Obamacare is dead, and its eleventh-hour bid to repeal Obamacare with no replacement is too. [Vox / Dylan Scott]
  • This stunning blow to the Republican legislative agenda all happened in the past 24 hours. [Vox / Dylan Scott]
  • Last night, two Republican senators, Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas, dealt the BCRA its final blow when they said they would not vote to proceed to debate on the bill. The BCRA had been hanging by a thread of one vote before they made the announcement. [CNN / MJ Lee, Ted Barrett, and Phil Mattingly]
    • Zach Gibson/Getty Images:             Moran was the sleeper "no" vote. Later explaining his reasoning, the Kansas senator said he believed the BCRA was bad policy, plain and simple. He advocated going back to the drawing board. [NPR / Jim McLean

  • Late Monday night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called for a vote on so-called “repeal and delay,” where Republicans would repeal the Affordable Care Act immediately and come up with a replacement later. [Vox / Sarah Kliff]
    • Senator Shelley Moore Capito, center, Republican of West Virginia, said she was opposed to simply repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. Doug Mills/The New York Times                                                                                                As with the BCRA, McConnell could only afford to lose two votes on straight repeal. Over the course of today, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska all announced they would block the effort. [NYT / Thomas Kaplan]

  • From the beginning, the bill’s problem was that conservative and moderate Republicans simply couldn’t come to a consensus. Read the explainer from Vox's Dylan Scott on the persistent problems with the BCRA. [Vox / Dylan Scott]
  • This crushing defeat underscores an uncomfortable reality for the GOP: They have not netted any major policy wins, despite having majorities in all three branches of government. [The Atlantic / Molly Ball]