Not enough votes to pass the GOP Senate plan this week.
Sen. Mitch McConnell could not get the votes to get the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 to the floor let alone bring it to a vote as he planned before the July 4th recess. This is a postponement and there could be a vote after the Senators return from the July 4th recess.
At 4 p.m. all of the Republican members of the Senate are headed to the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump. It is clear that President Trump is not pleased with the bill, he still feels that the bill lacks the heart he thinks it needs.
This is not President Trump’s bill and he wants to begin the process of seeing if there will be a chance to recraft the bill that lines up more with his vision of health care.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Dean Heller of Nevada are all strong no votes. Collins, Heller and Paul are against even having a procedural vote that allows the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 to be introduced on the Senate floor.
Medicaid cuts something that candidate Donald Trump promised not to touch is being cut by over $700 billion. To Trump that cut is too harsh, because many of his voters will be without health care.
In states like West Virginia. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, Kentucky and Michigan, Medicaid cuts are going to lose a great deal in this bill. For President Trump, he might be more open to a more bi-partisan bill and this is where the art of the deal really comes into place.