We know that Senator Cruz has been pushing for robustly funded risk pools to cover people with pre-existing conditions as opposed to making insurance companies cover them. But we do know a little about some key ideas in play behind closed doors.
McConnell told reporters Tuesday that a draft version of the bill would be released Thursday, but so far few members on either side of the aisle have seen any text of the massive legislation. The governors' letter, signed by members of both parties, called for a bipartisan effort to achieve the obvious goals for health care legislation, namely to control health care costs and stabilize the market.
The largest health care program in the country is now the toughest issue for Senate Republicans to navigate, according to senators involved in the talks.
Tennessee senator Bob Corker says he might see the legislation for the first timethis Thursday, less than a week ahead of the vote.
Besides the thousands who would lose coverage, through elimination of Medicaid expansion and reduced financial support to make health insurance affordable, North Dakota health providers would lose more than $200 million from the loss of Medicaid expansion, under the House legislation, Heitkamp said.
"Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because they're ashamed of it, plain and simple".
Perceptions of Medicaid as welfare don't seem bothered much by facts, such as, for example, that two thirds of Medicaid spending goes for the low income elderly and disabled who don't fit the Ronald Reagan era image of the welfare king or queen.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said he has not seen a draft of the Senate bill, but one might become available later this week.
But some Republicans say they should have seen the bill long ago. And it would take just three of McConnell's Republican colleagues to reveal what is happening behind closed doors. In addition to the revenue issue, Democratic aides said the bill could be referred to four different committees, which would lead to a lengthy legislative process and potentially significant changes to the measure.
Cuomo signs legislation ending child marriages in NYS
Health department data shows that between 2000 and 2010, 3,853 minors were married in NY . NY was one of only three states that allowed 14-year-olds to marry.
"Are they going to get all 52 Senate Republicans to do this?"
There were also rumblings of discontent by some conservatives. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday.
Defeat of the House-passed bill wouldn't necessarily end the health care debate in Congress, but it would redefine it.
"At some point, we're going to get health care reform", he said.
The White House has maintained a light tough when it comes to shaping the policies in the health care bill, but President Trump reportedly told a group of senators last week that the bill passed in the House was "mean" and he wanted the final bill to do more to help needier Americans.
At the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump "clearly wants a bill that has heart".
A bill that passed the Senate last week extending financial sanctions on Russia and Iran and making it more hard for President Trump to ease Russian sanctions has encountered a major procedural snag, threatening its quick passage into law. So they made a decision to cut Medicaid by $834 billion in the same bill so they can pay for their tax cuts.
There were set pieces to carry the journalistic narrative forward: president Obama arriving at the Republican Congressional retreat for a dramatic dialogue with the opposition, late-night committee mark-ups, an address to a joint session of Congress, the death of a famous senator and liberal icon and the election to replace him; hours of debate on the floor of the Senate.
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