Lee said the latest version didn’t repeal Obamacare taxes and regulations or lower premiums.
Republicans are expected to discuss how to pick up the pieces on Tuesday, when they gather for their regular policy lunch, which is often attended by Vice President Mike Pence. Several senators have made clear that they want GOP leaders to pursue an alternative that would require working with Democrats.
Others embraced the repeal-first strategy.
“I think that’s a prudent step,” Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said on Newsradio 102.9 in Little Rock. Even if that fails, he said, lawmakers need to keep working on the issue of health care. “It’s too important to too many Arkansans to simply walk away from it.”
Stunning Blow
The defections of Moran and Lee, two Tea Party-backed senators, is a stunning blow to McConnell and Trump, who campaigned on a promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which the president repeatedly called a disaster.
“Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!” Trump said on Twitter on Monday night.
That won’t be easy. While Congress last year passed a repeal bill, they did so knowing it would be vetoed by President Barack Obama. This year, now that it could become law, such a proposal has drawn little support among Republican senators, with the exception of those in its most conservative wing.
Such a defeat may be part of a plan by a Republican leadership team that has expressed a desire to begin moving on to other matters, including an overhaul of the tax code, a boost in the nation’s debt ceiling and next year’s spending bills.
No Clear Path