Senate Republicans Vote to Move Ahead on Obamacare Repeal

Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to open debate on repealing Obamacare, dramatically reviving an effort that many GOP lawmakers left for dead just a few days ago.

The vote is no guarantee that the fractured Republican caucuses can coalesce around a single health care plan. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us and I don’t think anybody’s taking anything for granted,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). “If we can get something by the end of this week through the Senate it would at least position us so that we can get to conference with the House.”

The leading idea now is to repeal only a small portion of the health law in order to get a bill to a conference with the House.

Republicans would aim to enact a bill repealing three parts of Obamacare: the individual and employer mandates and the medical device tax, according to Republican sources. It could be expanded or altered depending on where the bulk of the conference is.

“Whatever gets to 50,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).

The goal would be to get an Obamacare repeal bill through the Senate and to a conference with the House. Or perhaps to pass a bill that the House would accept given opposition among some House members to a bicameral conference committee.