US senators have passed the first measure on the way to dismantling outgoing-President Barack Obama’s much debated health care law, commonly known as Obamacare.
Early Thursday, the Senate voted 51-48 in favor of a nonbinding Republican-backed budget measure that will make it easier to pass repeal legislation, which could be voted on as early as next month.
It's official. The process of repealing #Obamacare in order to replace with a patient-centered alternative has officially begun. #utpol pic.twitter.com/ly4zGTeFqx
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) January 12, 2017
Republicans plan to get rid of the law and replace parts of it by the end of February, according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, speaking on “The Hugh Hewitt Show”, a conservative radio program, on Wednesday. Other Republicans, however, say the process could take longer.
The House is scheduled to vote on the measure on Friday. If passed, it would allow follow-up legislation to avoid a filibuster by Senate Democrats, a congressional procedure in which debate over a proposed piece of legislation is extended to delay or entirely prevent a vote on it. US President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that repealing and replacing the law should happen “essentially simultaneously.” However, neither he, nor the Republicans have yet presented a replacement program for Obamacare.
