AHCA Receives Tepid Reception in Senate

The House GOP's healthcare bill, which passed on the chamber floor Thursday afternoon, is not receiving a warm reception on the other side of the Capitol.

As Politico notes, Sen. Lindsey Graham and other Republicans in the Senate are skeptical of the American Health Care Act — particularly because it seems not everyone has read the entire bill.

"Like y'all, I'm still waiting to see if it's a boy or a girl," Graham said, Politico reports. "Any bill that has been posted less than 24 hours, going to be debated three or four hours, not scored? Needs to be viewed with suspicion."

Graham is not alone in his skepticism of the piece of legislation that was given new life this week after a planned vote on it in late March was canceled because it lacked support.

"We're writing a Senate bill and not passing the House bill," Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, told Politico. "We'll take whatever good ideas we find there that meet our goals."

The American Health Care Act is the House GOP's version of government-run healthcare. If it passes in the Senate and is signed into law by President Donald Trump, it would repeal and replace the current Obamacare law that became official seven years ago.

Many on Capitol Hill and beyond have asked to see the bill's score from the Congressional Budget Office before lawmakers take it up and vote on it.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told Politico: "I turned the volume off some time ago and have no idea what the House is even passing."

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who finished second in last year's Republican race for president, even got into the fray by saying the AHCA needs to be improved once it makes it way to the Senate.

"Today was an important step," Cruz said Thursday. "I am encouraged that House Republicans were able to come together and pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.

"Our work now goes forward in the Senate, where we should continue to improve the bill."

Americans For Tax Reform claimed the AHCA would slash taxes on Americans by $1 trillion.

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