Republican Senate leaders will bring the House health care bill directly to the floor next week for a closely watched vote that will determine once and for all if Republicans can deliver on their seven-year promise to repeal Obamacare.
The Senate’s second-ranking Republican leader John Cornyn of Texas, predicted Tuesday if the House passes its contentious health care overhaul bill when it votes Thursday, the Senate will take it up next week and pass it.
“If they pass it, we will pass it,” Cornyn told reporters.
But getting the bill across the finish line may not be that simple.
The rapidly approaching vote — even though it was previously announced — drew words of caution from two key GOP senators who previously raised serious reservations about the bill and have not yet committed to vote for it.
“Wow. Pretty aggressive, pretty aggressive,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said as she entered a Republican policy meeting in the Capitol, where health care was to be discussed.
Asked about her views of the House bill, Murkowski said: “I’m going to wait and see what comes about on Thursday. See if it improves.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor who has become a leading GOP voice on the bill, said he is still studying the House legislation and that he would prefer not to vote next week.
“I would like to have more time to consider,” he said.
Murkowski and Cassidy are just two lawmakers on the fence. More have expressed concerns and Sens. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, and Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, both tweeted opposition to the bill Tuesday afternoon.
In an interview on CNN’s Erin Burnett “OutFront” Tuesday evening, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul reaffirmed his opposition to the bill and predicted its failure in the House.
“I think we have 30, 35 no votes in the House,” Paul said.
He said that once the bill’s failure was imminent in the House, negotiations on a new bill to repeal Obamacare would begin in earnest.
Senate leaders are working with a narrow margin to pass the bill, and can only afford to lose two members.
If they lose three, the legislation fails.