Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced on Monday that she will oppose the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal bill, effectively halting the bill’s chances of passing through the Senate.
Collins’ announcement should not surprise readers. Collins voted against every Obamacare repeal bill proposed by Senate Republicans. The Maine senator voted against Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) clean repeal bill, the “skinny” repeal bill, as well as the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA).
Sen. Collins said in a statement, “The Affordable Care Act has many flaws that need to be addressed. The current state of health insurance, where premiums are skyrocketing, choices are limited, and small businesses are struggling, needs fixing. My focus will remain on remedying these problems.”
Collins joins Sens. Rand Paul, John McCain (R-AZ), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) as Republican senators who oppose the bill in its current form. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) remains undecided as to whether she will vote for the legislation.
Republican leadership has yet to decide whether they will hold a vote on the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal legislation.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of Senate leadership, told reporters, “I think we’re going to need to have a meeting of our conference tomorrow at noon so we can kind of see where everybody is before there will be any news.”
Sen. John McCain derailed renewed efforts to pass an Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate after he announced that he will oppose the Graham-Cassidy legislation last Friday.
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