The Senate voted 52-47 to gut Obamacare, strengthening a House passed bill that many conservatives – including Ted Cruz and Mike Lee – didn’t think went far enough.
The House vote on the amended version will come in the next few days and is almost certain to pass. This means that for the first time, President Obama will be forced to veto an Obamacare repeal bill – a prospect that many political experts think will benefit Republicans.
Obamacare is slowly melting down as exchanges are shuttered, insurance companies are pulling out, and fewer healthy people are signing up for coverage. The writing is on the wall and Republicans are salivating about running against the unpopular program.
The Hill:
The vote caps weeks of intense and at times acrimonious debate within the Senate GOP conference over how far the repeal should go.
Conservative Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who are running for president, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) threatened to oppose a House-passed repeal bill for not going far enough.
Three moderates, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), balked at it for including language defunding Planned Parenthood.
GOP leaders briefly floated the possibility of dropping the Planned Parenthood language but dropped the idea knowing it could spark a conservative backlash.
Instead, McConnell leaned on Cruz, Rubio and Lee to vote yes and sweetened the prospect by crafting an amendment that dramatically beefed up the Senate package. All three voted yes.