Abortion restrictions in health bill questioned

DAVIS: When he talks about blowing the opportunity, the concern I hear the most from Republicans on Capitol Hill is that if health care collapses – if they can not deliver on what has been their signature campaign promise, the infighting and the bad blood that it will generate will make it nearly impossible for Republicans to move forward on their other legislative priorities.

“Things are starting to feel incoherent” is a fair and accurate summary, though I’m inclined to take issue with the “starting to” qualifier. So far the White House has continued to pay those subsidies, but the discussion of ending them has increased uncertainty among insurers who offer plans through the Obamacare market. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, argue that including a version of the “freedom” amendment would drive down premiums for healthier consumers, though analysts say the idea would segment the marketplace, driving up costs for sicker consumers. Then everyone said it’s alive. “I think they’re pretty equal in support”.

And neither does anyone else. Somewhat remarkably, both numbers outstrip the level of support for the Senate’s actual bill, which HuffPost most recently found to be polling at just 15 percent. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell had seemed to declare defeat, but President Donald Trump called the GOP holdouts to meet.

Whether in the form of “candy”, “making it rain”, or old-fashioned carve-outs that help states with reluctant senators, Senate leaders are trying to figure out the amount and type of money and incentives that will win enough moderate votes to pass a “repeal-and-replace” bill.

The time spent on the lengthy health care effort has put off action on some of Trump’s other key domestic agenda items. Critics said he wanted the victory, but not the work.

Despite the challenges before them, members remain optimistic a deal can be reached. Did any “no” votes flip to “yes”? The central question is: How do you make it both cost-effective as well as fair? Substantively, nothing has changed. The fact that conversations are ongoing suggest GOP senators, in theory, could still work something out.

The latest AP-NORC poll found a familiar partisan split: more than 8 in 10 Democrats said health care is a federal responsibility, compared with 3 in 10 Republicans.

What will the Senate vote on? No Democrats are expected to vote for the bill, meaning Republicans can only lose two votes if they hope to start debate on the health-care bill – a margin that shrinks one without McCain. Dean Heller told CNN that he was simply “not in a position” to offer an answer because “I have no idea what that motion is going to be part of”.

“Ultimately I think the House [of Representatives] is certainly at risk next year for Republicans”, said University of Virginia political analyst Kyle Kondik, “particularly if the president’s approval rating stays at 40 percent or below, because historically speaking, presidents with poor approval have suffered significant losses in the House”.

Republicans filing out of their weekly Thursday lunch were asked if they were given any clear path on what the contents of their health care votes will be. We’re talking about real people here, literally tens of millions of people. “It depends what’s in the bill”.

If McConnell can find a way to keep all senators onboard, save Collins, through a mix of payoffs and pledges, they can get on the bill and begin the open amendment process. Trump said, urging the Nevada senator to support the legislation.

At least for now, it doesn’t look like it. John McCain (R-Ariz.) disclosed he is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, delaying Republicans’ chances of getting to 51 yes votes.

Republican leaders pushed toward a Senate vote next Tuesday on resurrecting their health care bill. He praised a House version of the bill, but later appeared to undermine it by calling it “mean”. If it fails to get 50 votes, it’s game over.

It wasn’t quite a wicked-witch-is-dead Munchkin happy dance, but the white noise of foregone conclusions drowned out Republicans’ relatively muted regret over their failure to repeal and replace Obamacare. No one can say with any confidence what that would be. Waiting for all the details ahead of time, Majority Whip John Cornyn told reporters, is a “luxury we don’t have”. “I’m not going to own it”, he said on Tuesday as the plan collapsed.

While Republicans deserve some of the blame for this state of affairs, Democrats can not evade a much fuller measure of responsibility, because most of the program’s problems are congenital, not lifestyle-induced.