Pelosi: No ObamaCare vote without new CBO score

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the House should not vote on repealing ObamaCare until Congress’s budget scorekeeper weighs in.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has told Pelosi’s office a score of the GOP’s repeal-and-replace plan is not coming this week, despite hopes from the White House that it could happen this week.

“Republicans are clearly terrified of their Members and the American people seeing the full consequences of their plan to gut critical protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions,” Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday.

{mosads}“Now, House Republicans are hoping to bring the latest version of Trumpcare to the Floor before the CBO can reveal its catastrophic impact on millions of American families,” she added.

“The American people have a right to know the full consequences of Trumpcare before their representatives vote on it.”

The CBO score would detail the expected impacts of the American Health Care Act on ObamaCare enrollees. 

The CBO has already released a score on the original healthcare legislation, which found an estimated 24 million people could become uninsured under the healthcare plan in the next decade. The analysis also found that insurance costs would rise for older people under the plan, but fall for younger people.

But the CBO has not yet analyzed the amendment to the bill introduced by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.). 

Despite that amendment, the GOP bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare appears to lack the votes needed to pass the House.

Republicans can only afford 22 defections, as no Democrats are expected to vote for the measure.

Twenty-two GOP House lawmakers oppose the measure as of Tuesday, according to The Hill’s whip list.

A mix of centrists and conservatives objected to the earlier ObamaCare replacement bill, forcing GOP leaders to call off a planned vote in March.

The updated version includes an amendment that would allow states to opt out of key ObamaCare rules creating minimum coverage requirements and preventing insurers from charging people with pre-existing conditions more. 

The changes are meant to woo conservatives who opposed the original edition of the American Health Care Act.