Let The Debate Begin – Senate Votes To Proceed With Health Care Reform

By Susan Rupe and John Hilton

Senate Republicans voted Tuesday afternoon to move forward on repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Vice President Mike Pence broke the 50-50 tie by voting in favor of a Motion To Proceed.

With a 52-48 advantage in the Senate, Republicans could only afford to lose two votes. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced days ago she would not support the MTP. When Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted No early in the roll call, the GOP margin had vanished.

The final vote came down to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who teased the drama by engaging in an animated discussion with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the Senate floor. Johnson is reportedly angry at the party for abandoning his re-election effort once he fell behind in the polls against former Sen. Russ Feingold. Johnson pulled out a come-from-behind ballot victory.

After Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made a dramatic entry to a standing ovation, Johnson ended all doubts by voting with McConnell.

With this afternoon's nail-biter of a vote over with, the next step is to begin a period of up to 20 hours of debate, on amendments to the House bill that was passed in May. After the debate, senators will begin a series of votes to those amendments.

McConnell could introduce a substitute amendment that would replace all of the others.

After all that, the bill would come up for a final vote. If it passes the Senate, the same version must be approved by the House before being sent to the president to sign.

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at Susan.Rupe@innfeedback.com.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com.