McConnell Managing Expectations About Obamacare Repeal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is attempting to keep expectations in check for the success of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to The Hill.

McConnell has said he will bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote, but has not promised that he can get at least 50 of the Republicans in the Senate to back the bill.

"Mitch has been very clear in our conference, and that is there will be a bill and we will be voting on it. He hasn't gone beyond explaining that," Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said in The Hill’s report.

Republicans in the Senate are using special budget rules for the passage of the bill, so they need 50 votes out of the 52 Republicans in the Senate. However, McConnell said Wednesday in a Reuters interview that he is not sure "at the moment" that he can get 50 votes for the bill.

"I don't know how we get to 50 at the moment. But that's the goal. And exactly what the composition of that (bill) is I'm not going to speculate, because it serves no purpose," McConnell said in the interview.

"I don’t know why he's doing media on it but he might be lowering expectations," one GOP senator told The Hill.

The Senate leader is "just being realistic," Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said in The Hill’s report.

"It's a challenge any time you're trying to get a consensus on a complex issue when you have to get 50 of 52 votes," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said, according to The Hill.

The House's American Health Care Act bill that passed earlier in May cannot pass in the Senate, Senate Republicans have said, according to The Hill.

The Congressional Budget Office’s score points to issues that moderate Republicans have with the bill, including leaving 23 million more people uninsured by 2026 than Obamacare and raising premiums for older Americans, The Hill report said.

If the Senate bill adds subsidies for older Americans, he could lose the vote of conservative Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah. If the bill does not address that issue, moderate leaning senators such as Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would be at risk, the report said.

Republicans appear to be more in sync over changing the tax code than in overhauling healthcare, according to The New York Times.

• NYT: McConnell Was Right, Obamacare May Be Too Hard to Replace
• McConnell: Senate Healthcare Bill 'Will Not Be Quick,' 'Must Be Done'