Senate Republicans Face Increasing Pressure to Pass Health Care Reform Before August Recess

Senate Republicans face increasing pressure to pass a health care overhaul before the August recess.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) remains cautious regarding the Senate’s timeline to pass health care reform. The White House wants the Senate to pass the bill before Congress adjourns for its month-long August recess.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and House leadership continue to publicly lobby the Senate to vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Speaker Paul Ryan recently told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that passing a health care bill in the Senate before the August recess is a “doable timeline” adding that “there’s a sense of urgency.”

Price said that Majority Leader McConnell “is absolutely committed to getting a bill out of the Senate.”

McConnell cryptically said on Tuesday that Republicans will soon unveil their health care legislation. He said that Senate Republicans are “all about healthcare these days … which we will move forward sometime in the near future.”

Senator John Thune (R-SD), also in Senate leadership, wants to vote before the chamber leaves in August. “I think [McConnell] expects that eventually we’re going to vote, and I would certainly hope that that would be sometime this summer,” Thune told reporters in an interview. “That would be my guess.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said that the upper chamber could most likely pass a health care bill in July. He added, “I hope we can.”

Senators Hatch and John Thune lead the 13-member health working group to discuss the bullet points behind health care reform. The group meets twice a week and will plan three caucus lunches a week to discuss health care. The working group will meet with Vice President Mike Pence and Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to discuss potential reforms to Obamacare.

Passing the Senate health care overhaul before the recess would give Republicans a significant victory as they break in August. After passing the Senate bill, the two chambers of Congress would have to merge the bill in conference later this fall.

If Republicans fail to pass legislation before the August recess, they will face a logistical nightmare to pass their legislative agenda in the fall. Lawmakers need to pass health care so Congress can move forward with tax reform. September will become swamped with priority issues such as avoiding a government shutdown, funding a southern border wall, and a comprehensive investment in America’s infrastructure.

Republicans may face another obstacle in the process if the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis concludes that the House’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) does not save at least $2 billion over the next ten years. A negative CBO score might force the House to vote again on the AHCA.

Hatch observed that Democrats could stall Republicans by filling up Senate floor time with votes on nominations in the following months. Hatch explained, “It depends on how the Democrats handle it. So far, they’ve tried to stop everything.”

Republicans have 52 seats in the Senate. The Senate working group will need to craft a bill that can win over at least 50 senators, while not alienating moderates such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME), nor marginalizing conservatives such as Rand Paul (R-KY), Ted Cruz (R-TX), or Mike Lee (R-UT).

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) said that at some point the Senate will have to stop deliberating and vote on a health care bill. He said, “Right now we’re having, I think, very productive conversations about what that product will look like. I think we need to have a reasonable period of time for that to occur, but at some point Sen. McConnell’s made it clear we’re going to vote.”