Add Susan Collins to List of Senators Bailing on Senate Obamacare Replacement Bill

By Susan Wright | 8:30 PM on June 26, 2017

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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questions Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Gen. Keith B. Alexander, Rand Beers, Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Patrick Gallagher, director of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Richard McFeely, Executive Assistant Director of Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch, Federal Bureau of Investigation, testify about NSA surveillance before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Senate leadership would like to have a procedural vote to move forward with their version of an Obamacare replacement, but that may not be happening.

They don’t have the votes.

Three Republican senators announced they would not support a procedural motion to advance the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would partially repeal Obamacare.

The three lawmakers not agreeing to a procedural vote are Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and centrists Dean Heller of Nevada and Susan Collins of Maine.

Collins tweeted out, earlier Monday:

I want to work w/ my GOP & Dem colleagues to fix the flaws in ACA. CBO analysis shows Senate bill won't do it. I will vote no on mtp. 1/3

— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 26, 2017

Collins, Heller, and Paul aren’t the only Republicans who think rushing a vote through Tuesday is a bit much. The rush is in hopes of forcing a vote on the actual bill by the end of the week, but without changes, they’re not going to get the support of the five senators who said last week that they could not get on board.

The CBO said in an updated score on the Senate bill Monday afternoon that it would result in 22 million people going without insurance until 2026 and raise premiums and deductibles for poor people.

Of those senators opposing the bill, as written, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, and Mike Lee have not spoken out against a procedural motion.

Senator Dean Heller, of Nevada, said on Friday that he was opposed to both the procedural motion, as well as the bill, itself.

Senator Johnson maintains that he needs more information.

McConnell can afford to lose only two GOP senators as Republicans have a 52-48 majority, assuming a 50-50 tie would be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.

As more is revealed about the bill, expect to lose more senators.