It was a big day for the Republicans yesterday as they proceeded to begin the debate of the Senate HealthCare, but now they face an even greater obstacle of agreeing upon a singular proposal.
A successful procedure would require at least 20 hours of debate and voting on the amendments that are commonly known as a vote-a-rama.
GOP leaders are, however, looking forward to this with a different perspective. The Senate is to vote on two amendments, the first proposing the removal of ObamaCare in 2 years while the second one encourages the replacement and removal of ObamaCare with a substitute.
Another proposition was put forward on Tuesday, which is based upon the idea of the of removal of only certain parts of the ObamaCare, i.e. some changes in the insurance clauses, both on individuals and on businesses and the removal of the taxes on the medical devices. The bill popularly known as the “skinny” ObamaCare repeal bill gained popularity yesterday and is being looked forward to be discussed further.
It is still difficult to say that even the “skinny” bill would clear the senate by major support. Sen. Susan Collins, seemed to be skeptical about the approach used yesterday. Whereas Sen. John McCain, who returned after the diagnosis of his cancer, in his floor speech predicted that this entire discussion is deemed to fail and it would be a smart move by Republicans if they started anew by open processes and committee hearings.
Opposing the Republicans, the Democrats are determined to make the process as difficult as possible, they were slow to respond to the beginning of the debate and held their votes till he very last to mark the contrast to the GOP.
In their efforts to delay the procedure, the Democrats held their silence and listened to all of the first amendment’s proposal which was expected to last a couple of hours.
It is difficult still as there are 52 seats for the Republicans and in case of voting combining both the Republicans and Democrats, they can only afford the loss of two votes with Vice President Pence breaking the tie.
Many Senators in are of the view that simply repealing the bill is pointless as there is no go-to substitute for the ObamaCare.
But the uncertainty to make 50 people agree upon a singular point is not just with the Republicans, even the Democrats are confused as to where these debates might lead. To agree upon a 100 plus amendments is quite a handful, let alone with such a close margin when it comes to voting.
The only plus that the Republicans have is that they could pass the bill with simple majority rather than the mandatory 60 votes because it is a healthcare bill. Other than that, Republican can fully expect a rocky road ahead that may or may not lead to the result that is suitable to the republicans.