Key conservative would back bill to repeal ObamaCare

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) will support a motion to debate repealing ObamaCare, since McConnell announced Monday night there will be a vote on a 2015 clean repeal bill, according to Lee’s office.

On Monday evening, Lee and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) announced they wouldn’t vote to begin debate on the current version of the Republican ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill, dealing a fatal blow to the version of the bill leadership altered Thursday.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced last week they would oppose the motion to proceed.

{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) acknowledged in a statement that “it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of ObamaCare will not be successful.”

Instead, the Senate will vote to begin debate on the House-passed ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill, which needs the support of 51 senators. That means McConnell can only afford two defections, assuming Vice President Pence breaks a tie.

Then, the Senate will vote on an amendment to take up the repeal-only proposal that Congress passed and former President Obama vetoed. This would repeal ObamaCare with a two-year delay.