The Senate voted 51-48 on Wednesday to start the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act.
The vote was a procedural motion to start debate on a fiscal 2017 budget resolution that would include resolution instructions repealing the 2010 healthcare law. The Senate is expected to begin debate on the budget resolution later Wednesday and then continue Thursday.
Republicans have said for some time now Obamacare needs to be dismantled, and incoming President Donald Trump said repealing the law would be his top priority once he takes office.
The GOP is aiming to give him a head start.
"The challenges ahead are great, and the work to come will be hard," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor Wednesday. "But just as we heard the voices of the American people in 2014, we heard their message this last election as well. Americans called for change from the last eight years and for hope at long last.
". . . In terms of what we can do here most immediately, Obamacare is at the top of the list. It's the very first item we'll consider this session. We'll continue to devote significant time to it as well."