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Repealing Obamacare Without Replacement Fails in Senate With 45-55 Vote

Seven Republican senators blocked the measure

Sen. Mitch McConnell / Getty Images
Sen. Mitch McConnell / Getty Images
July 26, 2017

Today Senate Republicans voted against repealing Obamacare without a replacement in a 45-55 vote.

Voting against the measure were senators Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.V.), Susan Collins (R., Maine), Dean Heller (R., Nev.), John McCain (R., Ariz.), Rob Portman (R., Ohio), Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska).

The Senate voted on the Obamacare Repeal and Reconciliation Act, which would repeal parts of Obamacare including the individual and employer mandates, taxes, and spending.

"It's what we call a clean repeal, it's not cluttered with insurance company bailouts, it's not cluttered with this and that, new regulations, it is just trying to peel back Obamacare," said Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.). "Now while it is a clean repeal bill, it is only a partial repeal bill."

"It's only a partial repeal because of these arcane Senate rules that say we can't repeal the whole thing," Paul said. "Because we're only repealing part of it, Obamacare will remain even if we're successful with this bill at least half of Obamacare remains."

While Paul supports replacing Obamacare, he says the Senate should go through with this measure because it is the only way to move forward with a compromise for replacement.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 51-50 to move the debate on health care forward with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote. The Senate plans to vote on a series of measures this week in an attempt to reform health care.

Following that vote, the Senate voted against a proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare in a 43 to 57 vote. The replacement plan voted on was the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act, which drew criticism from some conservative Republican senators who said the bill did not go far enough to repeal Obamacare.

Voting against the measure were senators Susan Collins (R., Maine), Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), Dean Heller (R., Nev.), Mike Lee (R., Utah), Jerry Moran (R., Kan.), and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska).

Published under: Obamacare , Senate