GOP/HEALTHCARE/OBAMACARE(ACA)/POLITICS/TAXES: “Senator Susan Collins is back in the spotlight as a crucial swing vote in the U.S. Senate as she raises questions about how combining a Republican tax-cut plan with a partial repeal of Obamacare will affect middle-class Americans.
A day after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell decided to link the two issues in a risky strategy, Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, was citing data that she called worrisome, casting new doubts over the tax plan’s outlook.
She told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday [11-15-17] that her staff’s research showed pairing tax cuts with an effective repeal of the individual mandate of Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), could be a mistake…
Collins was one of a handful of Republicans who voted in July to block a broader Republican attempt to dismantle Obamacare, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.
The failure of the final repeal effort, in which Collins was joined in opposition by fellow Republicans John McCain and Lisa Murkowski, was a stinging defeat for President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders eager to fulfill their campaign promise to scrap Obamacare.”
-Susan Cornwall, “Moderate Collins back in prominent role in Senate tax drama,” Reuters, Nov. 15, 2017 09:20pm