Senate

GOP senator warns of ‘jam’ if ObamaCare repeal is delayed

by Jordain Carney - 01/10/17 3:05 PM ET

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is warning against pushing back the deadline for ObamaCare repeal, warning it could create a legislative traffic jam on the Senate floor.

“I don’t think we should delay it any more than we have to because we have a second budget resolution that we want to pass to get reconciliation instructions for tax reform,” said the Senate’s No. 2 Republican. “We’re going to get into a real jam just in terms of the volume of work to do.”

Congressional Republicans are hoping to tackle an ambitious agenda as they get a unified GOP government for the first time in roughly a decade.

In addition to tax reform, Cornyn said an ObamaCare repeal bill could have to compete for floor time with a Supreme Court nomination, which “tends to suck all the oxygen out of the Capitol.”

The Senate is expected to pass legislation this week laying out the guidelines for ObamaCare repeal. Under the rules, lawmakers would have until Jan. 27 to propose their repeal measures

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A group of five Senate Republicans are pushing to move back that deadline until March 3, arguing lawmakers need more time to lock down details on replacement and work with the incoming Trump administration.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sidestepped a question Tuesday about whether he supports the delay, noting the Senate would pass its repeal rules by Thursday morning.

“You’ll have the final package when we get to the end … that will give you the final Senate version,” he told reporters, who peppered him with questions about the next steps on ObamaCare repeal during a weekly press conference.

Republicans only need 51 votes to pass the repeal guidelines through the Senate and have a 52-seat majority. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the only GOP senator who has said he will vote against it.

But a growing number of Republicans are raising questions about repealing the law without a replacement.

Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), one of the five Republicans wanting to push the deadline, said leadership had spoken to him about the proposal to delay the repeal legislation and signaled they were keeping an eye on the Senate calendar.

But he stressed that there were “many more” lawmakers who had concerns about the current plan beyond the five GOP senators supporting the delay proposal.

“I’m not alone,” the Tennessee Republican told reporters. “There are a lot of people that you all have written about it, and then a whole lot more beyond that … that have concerns about doing a repeal with no replacement, or at least some guidance about a replacement.”

In addition, the House Freedom Caucus is also trying to slow down the budget resolution, and President-elect Donald Trump voiced support for replacing ObamaCare within weeks of repeal.

“The replace will be very quickly or simultaneously, very shortly thereafter,” Trump told The New York Times.

Questioned if Trump’s push conflicts with the yearslong offramp talked about by Senate GOP leadership, McConnell told reporters that the replacement plan would be a “joint effort.”

Democrats have pledged to fight the GOP repeal plan, including launching a more than five-hour protest from the Senate floor.

Asked if Democrats would support delaying the deadline, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate’s top Democrat, said it was up to Republicans to work out their own intra-party fights.

“The Republicans have created this stew that they’re in,” he told reporters.

Tags Bob Corker Chuck Schumer Donald Trump John Cornyn Mitch McConnell Rand Paul