Vote Delayed as G.O.P. Struggles to Marshal Support for Health Care Bill
The Senate Democratic whip, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said the report by the Congressional Budget
Office “did more to strike a dagger to the heart of this Republican repeal than anything else.”
In 2026, the budget office said, 15 million fewer people would have Medicaid coverage under the Senate bill than under the Affordable Care Act,
and seven million fewer people would have coverage they purchased on their own.
That is for sure.” Over the next few weeks, he said, Mr. McConnell “will try to use a slush
fund to buy off Republicans, cut back-room deals, to try and get this thing done.”
At least four Republican senators — Ms. Collins, Dean Heller of Nevada, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
and Rand Paul of Kentucky — had said they would vote against the motion to begin debate, enough to ensure it would fail.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, said that “the fight is not over.”
WASHINGTON — Facing intransigent Republican opposition, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, on Tuesday delayed a vote on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, dealing another setback to Republicans’ seven-year effort to dismantle the health law
and setting up a long, heated summer of health care battles.
The budget office said the Senate bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured after 10 years,
and many people buying insurance on the individual market would have skimpier coverage and higher out-of-pocket costs.