WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Obama health law (all times local):
2:40 p.m.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will vote “sometime in the near future” on repealing the Obama health care law.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the Kentucky Republican says “this has been a very, very challenging experience for all of us” after the collapse of the Senate GOP plan to rewrite much of the 2010 law.
McConnell said the GOP doesn’t have 50 members to agree on a replacement. He made the comments after the weekly closed-door GOP lunch attended by Vice President Mike Pence.
Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said the GOP needs to find out “where the votes are.”
Opposition from three Republican senators left McConnell’s alternative plan to move ahead on a straight repeal in doubt.
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1:45 p.m.
A bipartisan group of 11 governors says Senate Republicans should abandon the effort to repeal the Obama health care law and replace it later.
In a statement on Tuesday, the governors, who hold considerable sway with their senators, said the latest approach pushed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would leave millions of Americans without insurance coverage.
The governors said the best step is a bipartisan approach and a fix to the unstable insurance markets.
Among the Republicans on the statement were Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, Maryland’s Larry Hogan, Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker and Ohio’s John Kasich. Also signing on was Independent Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska.
McConnell lacked the votes to push ahead on his plan as three Republican senators — Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — opposed it.
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12:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he is deeply “disappointed” by the collapse of the GOP effort to rewrite former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Trump told reporters during a lunch with service members Tuesday that Republicans have been talking for years about repealing and replacing “Obamacare,” and is disappointed they couldn’t deliver.
Trump says it’s time to “Let Obamacare fail,” and says that “I’m not going to own it.”
He says letting Obamacare fail will encourage Democrats to come to the table and negotiate.
Trump also says he does not blame Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the decision by two more Republican senators to come out against the legislation, effectively killing the bill.
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12:40 p.m.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has announced she will oppose moving forward on an “Obamacare” repeal bill — leaving Republicans once again short of votes.
Murkowski became the third GOP senator to announce her opposition to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest health care bill. McConnell can lose only two votes in the closely divided Senate, meaning the bill cannot advance.
McConnell was urging senators to advance to debate on a repeal-only bill on “Obamacare.” That was after his earlier repeal-and-replace bill was killed Monday by opposition from Republican senators.
Tuesday’s development marked the third straight defeat for McConnell as he struggles to make good on longstanding GOP promises to get rid of “Obamacare.”
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