Are Moderate Republicans Really Willing To Kill A Senate Health Care BIll?
“Are the more centrist Republican senators who have expressed doubtsabout the party’s efforts to repeal Obamacare really serious about voting against it? There’s reason for doubt. When the bill was in the House, more moderate Republicans eventually folded, allowing the conservatives to get what they wanted. When the original American Health Care Act failed in March (it was not put to a vote because the GOP’s internal counts showed it would have been rejected), there was a bloc of more moderate GOP members who opposed it as being too stingy in terms of covering people and lowering costs for the elderly and poor. The original bill also faced opposition from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which felt the legislation did not go far enough in repealing Obamacare. It seemed like House Speaker Paul Ryan was in a Catch-22: Any changes to the bill that would appeal to the Freedom Caucus would cause additional defections among the more moderate members.”