Senate

Senate Dems: We won’t help pass additional health bills

by Jordain Carney - 03/23/17 11:33 AM ET

Senate Democrats are warning that a slate of additional healthcare bills, supported by House Republicans and the White House, can’t pass the upper chamber.

Forty-three Democrats sent a letter — spearheaded by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) — to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pledging that they won’t support the so-called third prong of the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal-and-replace plan.

“Given your plans to pass subsequent legislation through regular order in Congress, we want to correct any misimpression you may have that we will support proposals you have cited as key to your effort,” the senators wrote.

The letter comes as the House is expected to try to pass legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare on Thursday, though it remains unclear if leadership has the support needed to win passage of the bill.

The move is the first step of a three-part GOP plan that also includes allowing Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to use regulations to lower costs and passing additional legislation on ObamaCare that would be subjected to the higher 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

{mosads}Democratic senators said Thursday that the additional legislation would “worsen the damage” of the House replacement bill.

Republicans will need to win over at least eight Democrats if they want to pass additional legislation and would likely focus their efforts on 10 senators who are up for reelection in states carried by Trump.

Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) — all up for reelection in 2018 — didn’t sign Shaheen’s letter.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) also didn’t sign the letter but warned this week that Democrats wouldn’t help pass the additional legislation.

“All Republicans in the House and Senate should hear this. Democrats will not help Republicans repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in one phase, two phases or three phases,” he said from the Senate floor on Tuesday.

After Schumer railed against the GOP plan and pledged Democratic opposition on Wednesday, Manchin — who was on the floor to give a speech about opioid addiction — noted that Democrats are asking to “repair” the healthcare law.

“It doesn’t make any sense at all to go down the path of repealing until we make an effort to make this better and protect the people who are depending on us,” he said. “With that, let’s see what happens.”

He added that “we are all willing to sit down and work on both sides of the aisle to help improve it.”

Tags Chuck Schumer Claire McCaskill Heidi Heitkamp Jeanne Shaheen Joe Donnelly Joe Manchin Paul Ryan