Graham: ‘I will not give up’ on ObamaCare repeal

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday vowed to keep pushing for the repeal of ObamaCare, despite the effort appearing essentially dead for this year.

“If reports are accurate that the GOP leadership in Congress is giving up on the Republican promise to repeal and replace Obamacare with a more efficient health care system, then we deserve to lose,” Graham said in a statement.

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Graham was a main sponsor of a proposal last year to replace ObamaCare with a system of block grants to states.

“I am more determined than ever to move forward with this block grant proposal and deliver health care that works for the American people,” Graham said.

Republican leaders, though, have signaled that they are not interested in diving back into the contentious ObamaCare repeal fight this year. The Senate last year failed to pass a repeal bill, and there is no indication that the votes have shifted since then.

“There’s some work we need to do on the health-care front, but I would hope we’re in a position to do things on a bipartisan basis,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said last month.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has also stressed bipartisanship as being a theme for this year.

It is in doubt whether Republicans will be able to adopt a budget this year, which is the necessary first step to unlocking the fast-track process needed to pass ObamaCare repeal without Democratic votes.

Many Republicans are even discussing taking bipartisan actions to stabilize ObamaCare markets and try to bring down premiums, for example by providing funding known as reinsurance.

Graham is not all alone, however. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is also calling for not giving up on repeal this year.