Senate

McConnell: Senators will be able to change House ObamaCare bill

by Jordain Carney - 03/09/17 9:08 AM ET

Senators will have the chance to change the House’s ObamaCare repeal bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday.

“We’ll be in a reconciliation mode and as you know there’s a vote-a-rama,” McConnell said during a Playbook Live interview. “So there’s going to be plenty of opportunity for senators in both parties to change this bill.”

He added that that under “vote-a-rama” — an hourslong voting marathon — senators will be able to offer “unlimited amendments.” If Democrats want to pass any changes to the bill, they’ll need to win over GOP senators.

McConnell’s comments come as a growing number of Senate Republicans are warning that the current version of the House bill, known as the American Health Care Act, can’t pass the Senate without significant changes.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said early Thursday morning that GOP lawmakers needed to “get it right, don’t get it fast.”

1. House health-care bill can’t pass Senate w/o major changes. To my friends in House: pause, start over. Get it right, don’t get it fast.

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 9, 2017

{mosads}The first House panel marked up its section of the repeal bill during a rare all-night session on Wednesday. A second committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, is still in the midst of its mark-up.

Senate GOP leadership is expected to bring up the House bill, setting up a potential vote by early April, before lawmakers leave for a two-week recess.

McConnell added on Thursday that he isn’t “alarmed” by the “difference of opinions” in his conference around the bill, arguing lawmakers will ultimately have two choices.

“We’ll either support a bill that the president will sign into law … or we’ll be stuck with the status quo,” he said. “This bill is full of things that Republicans think are significant for the country.”

Senate Republicans have a narrow path for getting the repeal bill through the Senate. They have a 52-seat majority, meaning they can only lose two GOP votes. No Democrats are expected to vote for repeal, and about nine GOP senators have raised concerns about the House bill.

Tags Mitch McConnell Tom Cotton