The Republican push to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, appears to have collapsed after Senator Susan Collins of Maine announced that she would not be voting for the bill.
“Collins joined Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona in pledging to vote against the bill, leaving only 49 votes,” says The Guardian. “At least 50 Republican senators would be needed for the bill to pass with the aid of the casting vote of Mike Pence, the vice-president.”
Collins made the announcement after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said millions of people would be left without insurance if the bill was successful.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Sweeping reforms to our health care system and to Medicaid can’t be done well in a compressed time frame,” Collins said, “especially when the actual bill is a moving target.”
According to The New York Times, “the demise of the latest repeal push means that Republicans are now all but certain to conclude Trump’s first year in office without fulfilling one of their central promises, which the president and lawmakers had hoped to deliver on quickly after Trump took office”.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
What to do if you lose your health insuranceSpeed Read Health insurance is confusing, so we've outlined a few options should you suddenly lose coverage
-
Neanderthal gene ‘caused up to a million Covid deaths’
Speed Read Genetic tweak found in one in six Britons means cells in the lungs are slower to launch defences
-
Candace Owens claims Trump supports COVID vaccines because he's 'old' and 'came from a time before TV'
Speed Read
-
Trump sends New York Times reporter handwritten note saying he's 'very proud' of COVID vaccines
Speed Read
-
Legalising assisted dying: a complex, fraught and ‘necessary’ debate
Speed Read The Assisted Dying Bill – which would allow doctors to assist in the deaths of terminally ill patients – has relevance for ‘millions’
-
Trump's COVID response coordinator alleges the election 'distracted' his administration from fighting the pandemic
Speed Read
-
Newly revealed emails add to 'growing body of evidence' that Trump was aware of coronavirus threat early on
Speed Read
-
Vaccinating children: it’s decision time for the health secretary as kids return to school
Speed Read Sajid Javid readying NHS England to roll out jab for children over 12, amid fears infections will rocket
