Senate GOP pass motion to open debate on Trumpcare bill

US Senate Republicans overcame their 1st hurdle as they aim to begin repealing and replacing Obamacare, narrowly passing a procedural motion to open debate on a bill to begin the dismantling.

The Senate deadlocked at 50-50 on whether to move forward on the healthcare debate, with VP Mike Pence casting the tie-braking vote to open debate on a bill to repeal and replace the ACA.

Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were the only Republicans to oppose the measure. Former opponents, including John McCain who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer and returned today to vote on the measure, tilted towards opening the bill for debate.

President Trump praised the motion, saying that it was “a giant step to end the Obamacare nightmare.”

“As this vote shows, inaction is not an option, and now the legislative process can move forward as intended to produce a bill that lowers costs and increases options for all Americans. The Senate must now pass a bill and get it to my desk so we can finally end the Obamacare disaster once and for all,” Trump wrote in an official statement.

The Senate GOP still faces an uphill battle to pass a bill, as the victory today were a simple procedural matter. Republicans will still need to muster votes necessary to pass any of the repeal approaches that will be up for consideration in the coming days.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he hopes to finish work on a bill to begin the repeal and replacing process shortly after the vote.

“This is just the beginning, we’re not out here to spike the football. This is a long way, but we’ll finish at the end of the week,” McConnell said.

A number of different approaches for the bill have been floated over the past few weeks, including a straight repeal of Obamacare with no replacement plan, previous versions which alter Obamacare and overhaul Medicaid and a new “skinny repeal” which would end the Obamacare individual coverage mandate and employer mandates alongside the medical device tax.

“Some of us want clean repeal, some of us want the Senate leadership bill, they’re both going to get a vote early on and I think that’s a fair way to do it. If either one of them fails and another one succeeds, maybe we can find something in between that actually succeeds,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said.

Last week, Trump demanded that GOP senators return their attention to repealing and replacing Obamacare, despite failing to rally enough votes to pass the Republican-inked Trumpcare bill, or a straight repeal of the healthcare legislation.

Material from Reuters was used in this report.

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