- Senate GOP Aiming for Vote This Month on Health Legislation AP by Erica Werner—Senate GOP leaders plan to vote as soon as this month on major health care legislation even though they remain uncertain, for now, whether their still-unwritten bill will pass, lawmakers said Monday. The House narrowly passed its own version of legislation to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law last month. Senate Republicans have rejected the House bill but have struggled to come to agreement on a version of their own. But now, with pressing budget deadlines looming and President Donald Trump eager to focus on tax legislation, Senate GOP leaders have decided it's time to vote and move on.
- Too Many Cooks Threaten GOP Health Care Bill The Hill by Nathaniel Weixel— Senate Republicans may have too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to healthcare, and it's complicating efforts to draft an Obamacare replacement bill. The main Senate group working on crafting healthcare legislation is the task force of 13 men backed by Senate leaders. It won negative attention early on for its lack of women, at which point GOP leaders opened it up to all members… Republican senators appear to be aware of the potential problems. "The only way of doing this, you can't have 52 people drafting the bill," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) recently told The Hill about the challenges faced by his conference. [But] without formal committee hearings or listening sessions, senators who would normally be involved in the decision-making process are suddenly finding themselves on the outside. So to make sure they have a voice, they've formed working groups.
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Senate Health Bill May Alienate GOP Conservatives New York Times by Jennifer Steinhauer and Robert Pear—Senate Republicans are closing in on a bill to repeal President Barack Obama's signature health care law, diverging from the House on pre-existing medical conditions and maintaining federal subsidies that proponents see as essential to stabilizing insurance markets around the country. The changes appear largely designed to appeal to Republican senators who hail from states where the Affordable Care Act is popular and who were critical of the House bill, which would eliminate insurance for millions of Americans covered under the current law, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But the revisions may well alienate the Senate's most conservative members, who are eager to rein in the growth of Medicaid and are unlikely to support a bill that does not roll back large components of the current law. Even with more moderate Republicans on board, party leaders would have a very narrow margin for passage on the Senate floor.