Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday
that the Senate would not vote on the Graham-Cassidy legislation, the latest
attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Chances of passage were dealt a significant blow earlier
this week when Susan Collins (R-ME) announced she would join her fellow
Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky in
opposition to the bill. Republicans could only afford to have two defections and
still reach the 50-vote threshold for passage, with Vice President Mike Pence
breaking the tie.
The Graham-Cassidy bill cut billions from the Medicaid
program by instituting population-based per-capita caps and cutting the
allowable provider tax rate from six to four percent.
AHCA/NCAL advocates sent hundreds of thousands of letters to
Capitol Hill asking lawmakers to preserve Medicaid funding for long term care
during the repeal and replace process, including over 13,000 in the last week
alone.
Senate Republicans revived repeal and replace efforts in
recent weeks due to an announcement from the Senate parliamentarian that the
budget reconciliation window will close on at the end of the fiscal year,
September 30. The budget reconciliation process allows Senators to
pass legislation with a simple 50-vote majority, rather than the 60-vote
supermajority needed to avoid a filibuster.
Despite the current budget reconciliation window closing at
the end of the month, Republicans said repeal and replace efforts will not
conclude. Many Republicans have suggested they would like to use the next
fiscal year’s budget to pursue tax reform, but there is nothing procedural stopping Republicans from reviving repeal efforts in the future.
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