Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the Senate Republican plan to replace Obamacare. Four conservative Senators said that they are “not ready to vote for this bill” but they also stated that they are open to negotiation. Cruz wants to allow insurance companies to offer one policy compliant with Obamacare’s regulations, but many others which are not.
While McConnell does not yet have the necessary 50 Republican Senators to pass a health care bill, most Senate insiders think that he likely will reach 50.
The Kentucky Republican still has much work to do to get his health care overhaul across the finish line and may have to offer those senators some concessions that move the bill to the right. And somehow while doing so, he also must keep on board a pair of moderates and a half-dozen stalwart defenders of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
Right now, McConnell is far from having a commitment for the 50 votes needed for passage, according to senators who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal politics of the 52-member caucus. But no one on Capitol Hill seems to be betting against the wily majority leader as he plans for one of the most critical roll call votes of his career next week.
“He is extremely talented in cobbling together coalitions of people who disagree,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate Republican skeptical of the GOP’s direction. “I never underestimate his ability to pull something off.”