10 things you need to know today: July 16, 2017

Senate health bill just 1 GOP defection shy of defeat, McConnell delays health vote over McCain's surgery, and more

Sen. Mitch McConnell
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

1. Senate health bill just 1 GOP defection shy of defeat

Republicans control the Senate 52-48, which gives Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a narrow margin for passing the GOP health-care bill. Already, two GOP senators, Maine's Susan Collins and Kentucky's Rand Paul, have announced they plan to vote no, leaving McConnell as of Sunday just one defection shy of defeat. At least four other Republican senators are on the fence: moderates Rob Portman (Ohio), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Dean Heller (Nev.), as well as Utah conservative Mike Lee, who is reportedly skeptical of an amendment added to the bill by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.