Republicans failed their constituents as Obamacare repeal falls apart, Senate cancels vote on defunding Planned Parenthood

Senate Republicans decided today to scrap a vote on a proposed bill to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. Siding with Democrats, GOP members Susan Collins of Maine and Arizona’s John McCain joined with Rand Paul of Kentucky to oppose the plan from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana.

At a Republican lunch meeting on Tuesday, party leadership determined that the necessary votes were not there to take advantage of the “reconciliation” process that required a simple majority for passage by September 30.

photo Will O’Neill via Flickr

The GOP failed to secure majority support in the U.S. Senate as Collins effectively killed the bill when she announced her opposition Monday night, becoming the third GOP senator to say she would not vote for passage.

Changes to the measure aimed to please Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska giving them more federal aid to “high-spending, low-density” states like Arizona and Kentucky.

Cassidy/Graham’s revision defined Murkowski’s state as well as Arizona and Kentucky as “high-spending, low-density,” giving them more federal aid. Cassidy released a table Sunday that shows Alaska receiving three percent more federal funds and Maine getting 43 percent more.

“Alaska, Arizona, Maine and Kentucky are big winners in the Healthcare proposal,” President Trump tweeted Sunday night.

“Why have a vote if you know what the outcome is and it’s not what you want. I don’t know what you gain from that. But I do believe that the health care issue is not dead, and that’s what counts,” said Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. “We’ve got some time this year to deal with it and I think we have to.”

Collins objected after reviewing a Congressional Budget Office report that predicted millions of Americans would lose insurance coverage by 2026 under the plan.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, both wanted “technical changes” to the bill, saying states need to be able to get out of more Obamacare regulations.

Conservatives have expressed frustration and disappointment in the Republican-controlled House, Senate and Presidency as numerous attempts to defund Planned Parenthood failed because of McCain, Murkowski, and Collins.

Liberals continued to criticize the bill. Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, called the bill “dangerous” and a “red siren moment for the entire country.”

“Lives are at stake,” Planned Parenthood said in a September 23 fundraising email about the bill.

Besides defunding Planned Parenthood for one year and eliminating Obamacare’s forced abortion coverage mandate, the legislation would transfer money allocated by Obamacare for Medicaid expansion and federal subsidies to the states.