Republican Sen. Ted Cruz: 'Right now they don't have my vote' on health care bill

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz: 'Right now they don't have my vote' on health care bill

• By VERONICA STRACQUALURSI

Sep 24, 2017, 3:11 PM ET

Michael Reynolds/EPA

WATCH Sens. Graham and Cassidy: 'We're moving forward' on health care bill
Sen. Ted Cruz said today that he does not yet support the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, which appears to put the Republicans' latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act in jeopardy.

"Right now they don't have my vote," the Texas Republican said during an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival at the University of Texas Austin on Sunday.

Cruz said he wants to be a "yes" vote on Republicans' latest push to repeal Obamacare, the health care law he called a "disaster."

"And I don't think they have Mike Lee's either," Cruz said of the Republican senator from Utah.

A spokesperson for Sen. Mike Lee told ABC News, "We want some technical changes, we are working with Cassidy but we haven't committed to anything yet.”

Another Republican leaning no on the Graham-Cassidy bill, Sen. Susan Collins said it is "very difficult" to envision herself voting for the legislation.

"It's very difficult for me to envision a scenario where I would end up voting for this bill," Collins, R-Maine, said in an interview with CNN Sunday. "I have a number of serious reservations about it."

Collins said she wants to wait for the Congressional Budget Office(CBO) analysis of the bill before she makes a final decision.

The CBO scoring of the bill is expected this week.
Collins said Friday that she was "leaning no" on the bill, concerned about its proposed changes to Medicaid and health care premium costs.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona have already publicly come out against the latest GOP health care bill.

The Graham-Cassidy bill, introduced earlier this month by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., would give states control over health care by providing them with block grants that expire in 2026. The bill would eliminate the individual and employer insurance mandates under the Affordable Care Act -- also known as Obamacare -- Medicaid expansion, and federal tax credits.

Trump criticizes John McCain for saying he will vote 'no' on new health care bill

McCain says he cannot vote for Graham-Cassidy bill

How the Graham-Cassidy bill compares with past Republican health care repeal efforts

McCain said Friday he could not in "good conscience" vote for the Cassidy-Graham bill, and that he is concerned that the bill does not have bipartisan support, nor has it gone through regular order, which would include hearings and debates on the legislation.

"[Republicans] should not be content to pass health care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed Obamacare through Congress in 2009," McCain said in a statement explaining why he's chosen not to support the bill. "If we do so, our success could be as short-lived as theirs when the political winds shift, as they regularly do."

Paul's main gripe with the bill is that he believes it doesn't go far enough in repealing Obamacare.

The Senate will consider the bill on the floor this week, ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline that allows Republicans an easier path to passing the bill by a simple majority. Republicans can only afford to lose three votes, or else their efforts in the Senate to repeal Obamacare will fail for a second time this year.

The Senate Finance Committee will also hold a hearing Monday afternoon on the Graham-Cassidy proposal.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/repub...ry?id=50056164

McCain to oppose Graham-Cassidy, likely sinking Obamacare repeal

Oh my, another empty talking doodler. Well, no surprise here.

TALK, TALK, TALK, DOODLE, DOODLE, DOODLE.

All, empty-talking self-doodlers. DISGUSTING!!

This latest attempt is not an appeal and replace bill.

Who cares? It repeals the "unconstitutional" individual mandate and tax penalty. it also repeals the equally unconstitutional tax mandates and penalties on employers. That is all that matters with regards to this stupid Obamacare. You repeal those 2 things, and Obamacare repeals itself by collapsing. It also repeals the Expanded Medicaid. What more does a Real Republican need to vote for this bill?!! NOTHING.

McCain, Cruz, Murkowski, Collins and Rand Paul have "concerns" enough to vote against the bill at this point.

A vote against any bill that repeals the individual and employer mandates and tax penalties IS a vote FOR OBAMARECARE.

DISGUSTING!!!

Obama care has more problems than just the forced healthcare. Telling Dr.s what test and procedures can be done up until a certain age... babies are even included in these plans, they made it the law, then more or less let them die. This may not effect everyone now but it will as people age and we all age. These people that designed Obamacare are not even Dr.s. A Specialist told me that Obama care effected all insurance plans and tied the Dr.s hands in treating patients as they needed to be treated. Another problem is Dr.s that will actually accept Obamacare fewer and fewer Dr.s were excepting Obama care because of the high deductible and problems receiving reimbursement payments from Obamacare to cover their expenses. Then you have areas where you would have to drive sometimes up to 4 hours away to find a Dr. that would except Obamacare. Making Healthcare that was forced on people useless to many people. Many people have died because of Obamacare.

Sen. Rand Paul: Graham/Cassidy does NOT repeal ObamaCare and I oppose it

http://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxnew...1543551192.jpg

By Sen. Rand Paul, Fox News

Sen. Paul: Can't be in favor of keeping ObamaCare spending

On 'The Story,' lawmaker explains his opposition to the GOP's last ditch repeal bill

No one wants to repeal ObamaCare more than I do. As a career physician, there are few in Congress who have as much firsthand experience on all sides of the health care debate as I do. I’ve voted for repeal. I’ve sponsored my own Repeal and Replace plans.

But I’ve also led the fight to stop and block “ObamaCare Lite” plans offered in both houses of Congress this year. These have been plans that have spent nearly as much money as ObamaCare, that left most of the taxes and regulations in place, and basically failed to honor our promise of repeal.
Unfortunately, they’re back again, and I must add to the list of ObamaCare Lite plans to oppose the new Graham/Cassidy bill that was introduced last week in the Senate.

In all ways, this bill is also ObamaCare Lite. In no way is it repeal the way we promised. I will oppose this bill as I did the other fake repeal bills, and I urge those who want repeal to do so, as well.
Make no mistake – Graham/Cassidy keeps ObamaCare funding and regulations in place. Oh, it rearranges the furniture a bit, changes some names, and otherwise masks what is really going on – a redistribution of ObamaCare taxes and a new Republican entitlement program, funded nearly as extravagantly as ObamaCare.

Their sales pitch is, “If you like your ObamaCare, you can keep it.” That’s nice, but I don’t like it, I don’t want to keep it, and I don’t want to keep paying for it.

Graham/Cassidy doesn’t repeal a single ObamaCare insurance regulation. All of the Title 1 rules, the Essential Health Benefit rules, all of them - they’re still in place here.

States may grovel on bended knee for some relief to the federal government, with no guarantee of success and no permanent solution beyond the current administration.

I believe the president and HHS Secretary would WANT to do the right thing on state waivers, but I’ve already spent the better part of the year arguing with an army of bureaucrats and lawyers in the administration trying to get them to do something President Trump and I AGREE should be done - loosening up the rules on joining group plans. This would be a huge change for Americans and a big fix for our system – yet they can’t get it done. The idea disappears into the Swamp. I’m afraid even the minor waivers of regulations envisioned here would do the same.

This bill is also set to spend us further into debt. Even the bill’s authors and proponents, using what I’m sure are rosy numbers, admit that their ObamaCare Lite bill will spend 90 percent of what we currently spend on ObamaCare. Other estimates are closer to 95 percent. Either way, did anyone go out to vote so we could repeal only 5 or 10 percent of ObamaCare? I didn’t.

Graham/Cassidy won’t fix our health care problems, and it will become a permanent drain on the treasury - one that is already $20 trillion in debt, with a $700 billion deficit next year.

Repeal of ObamaCare, if we did it “root and branch” as some suggested in their campaigns, would have saved over a trillion dollars in spending over 10 years. Instead, we are left trying to save crumbs while leaving the system largely intact.

I won’t do it. I know many of my colleagues are getting desperate to say they “did something,” and I can sympathize with that. They figure most people aren’t paying attention, and the press conference where they said they did something would carry them through the elections next year.

But I’m worried. I’m worried about what happens when premiums continue to go up double digits (and they will). I’m worried about what happens when the system continues its downward spiral, but this time it is “GOP/TrumpCare” that gets blamed. And they will.

I’m looking ahead past the next election, to the day of reckoning when the bills are due, and we are out of money, because we did the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

Graham/Cassidy keeps a trillion dollars in taxes and spending and redistributes it. And, somehow, people are looking to call this “federalism.” I wish it were, but that’s just not the case.

Their sales pitch is, “If you like your ObamaCare, you can keep it.” That’s nice, but I don’t like it, I don’t want to keep it, and I don’t want to keep paying for it. So how about we all keep our word and get rid of it?

To my colleagues, I say, “No thanks.” This bill is no better than the last attempt and should receive no more support. It should not pass. I’ll vote no, and I’ll fight to stop the newest ObamaCare Lite plan.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/...oppose-it.html

No one cares about these stupid word games. When you repeal the individual and employer mandates, Obamacare is dead. Everyone knows that. What is left to "repeal" that matters to ordinary folks? Nothing.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz endorsed each other for re-election