The Senate was set to embark later on Thursday on a so-called vote-a-rama, a by-product of the special process under which the bill was brought up that avoids the need to win 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber for passage. This entails a rolling series of votes that would potentially involve scores of time-consuming amendments that can be offered by any senator.
Republicans then hope to move to a straight yes-or-no vote on a healthcare bill some time on Friday.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley said he planned to offer more than 100 amendments to try to disrupt the Republican quest.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer blasted the skinny plan, citing estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that it would result in 16 million Americans losing health insurance over a decade and raise insurance premiums by 20 percent in January.
Concern Among Insurers
The biggest health insurer lobby, America’s Health Insurance Plans, sent a letter to McConnell reiterating that uncertainty over the healthcare system would drive premium rates higher for 2018. Insurers’ final rates for plans offered through Obamacare are due to be submitted to the government in mid-August, and without a government commitment to pay certain subsidies, insurers would be forced to raise premium rates another 20 percent, the group wrote.
Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin. They can afford to lose only two Republican votes to secure passage, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote.
Trump and many other Republicans campaigned last year on a pledge to repeal and replace what they view as a failing law that constitutes government intrusion into people’s healthcare decisions. Democrats noted that Obamacare has extended health insurance to 20 million Americans.
Republicans have faced an internal rift over how to replace Obamacare, with hard-line conservatives seeking a bill that thoroughly scraps it and moderates unwilling to support measures that could strip tens of millions of people of their health insurance.
The Republicans planned a bit of political gamesmanship that appeared intended to embarrass liberal Democrats who have long advocated a so-called single-payer government-run healthcare system. Obamacare fell well short of providing that.
McConnell said the Senate would vote on a plan offered by Republican Steve Daines to create a single-payer arrangement even though Daines and other Republicans oppose such a system. McConnell said that “we’ll find out what support it enjoys” among Democrats.
“It’s just pure cynicism,” Schumer said.