Senate Republicans Say They Will Not Vote on Health Bill
Mr. McCain detested the hasty, partisan process used to push the bill; Ms. Collins had broad concerns about the legislation’s effects on health care;
and Mr. Paul objected to the fundamental architecture of the bill, which in his view constituted “fake repeal.”
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he saw no reason for the Senate to vote.
In a statement released after Senate Republicans decided not to do so, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,
who voted against the last repeal attempt in July, denounced what she described as “a lousy process.”
“The U. S. Senate cannot get the text of a bill on a Sunday night, then proceed to a vote just days later, with only one hearing — and especially not on an issue
that is intensely personal to all of us,” Ms. Murkowski said, without saying which way she would have voted.
But such an undertaking would require passing yet another budget blueprint, in order to protect the bill from a Democratic filibuster,
and it would put health care front and center as lawmakers head into the midterm elections.
Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Senate health committee,
and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the panel, have been working on legislation to stabilize insurance markets and hold down premiums in the next couple of years.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday officially abandoned the latest plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, shelving a showdown vote on the measure
and effectively admitting defeat in their last-gasp drive to fulfill a core promise of President Trump and Republican lawmakers.