GOP/HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA): “President Donald Trump made a last-minute pitch to GOP senators urging them to vote Tuesday [7-25-17] to begin debate on a sweeping health-care law, an exhortation that added to the pressures facing congressional Republicans at a critical moment.
An unusually large number of GOP senators have signaled resistance to taking even the first procedural step to begin debate on overturning former President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act. More than half a dozen GOP senators have said they would block debate on different versions of the health-care bill, though it remained up in the air exactly how many would vote no on Tuesday.
That makes Tuesday’s vote to proceed with the consideration of legislation pivotal in either derailing Republicans’ health-care ambitions or inching them closer to reviving a bill that is still on shaky ground.
Lawmakers typically vote with party leaders at least to begin debate on legislation, and failure to pass the motion would be a rebuke for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who has argued that allowing debate to begin would give senators unhappy with the bill a chance to amend it.”
-Stephanie Armour, Kristina Peterson, and Louise Radnofsky, “Trump Urges GOP Senators to Overturn Affordable Care Act,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 24, 2017 07:22pm