Republican senator begs his party to cancel vote on health care

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) does not have a good feeling about Thursday's scheduled vote on the GOP health-care plan.

"I am strongly, strongly persuaded that it is not going to pass," he told Fox News on Tuesday. "I think they should cancel the vote because they don't have the votes." He thinks party leaders need to "bring people who have concerns, bring in conservatives, let them express what their concerns are. We can still fix this."

Lee's major issue with the bill is it does not completely repeal and replace ObamaCare, which Republicans have been vowing to do for the past seven years. "That is what we need to do, and that is why I am holding out for a vote that fulfills that promise," he said. Despite President Trump saying otherwise, Lee believes other Republicans don't need to support this iteration of the bill, which "contains a false promise of providing Americans with meaningful health-care cost relief." Republicans can only afford to lose two GOP votes in the Senate, and Lee went on the record saying he is a no.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up