Senate’s Obamacare impasse could put issue back in Sen. Lamar Alexander’s hands

July 28--WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans' failure to come to a consensus on how to dismantle former President Barack Obama's signature health care law could potentially put the issue back in the hands of Sen. Lamar Alexander.

The Tennessee Republican, who chairs the Senate committee with jurisdiction over health care issues, gave no indication Friday how he plans to proceed after the Senate killed what had been considered the GOP's last-ditch bill to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

But Alexander said last week that, should Republicans come up short in delivering on their seven-year campaign pledge to repeal and replace the law, he would call hearings before his committee to look for ways to stabilize the individual insurance market.

He repeated his commitment to addressing that issue in a statement released early Friday, shortly after the Senate narrowly rejected a skeletal plan to repeal parts of the law. It was the third -- and most devastating -- Republican repeal bill to fail this week.

Both Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker backed the legislation, which GOP leaders had hoped would set the stage for negotiations with the House to cobble together a much broader bill.

"I voted to take the next step toward what I believed was our best opportunity to repeal and replace Obamacare," Alexander said. "The Senate's failure to do this leaves an urgent problem that I am committed to addressing: Tennessee's state insurance commissioner says our individual insurance market is very near collapse."

Alexander repeated what he has said many times during the health care debate -- that his main concern is doing what he can to help the 350,000 Tennesseans and 18 million Americans in the individual market who may have no options to purchase health insurance in 2018 and 2019.

Corker also expressed disappointment in the collapse of the legislation, which he called "the best path forward." He said he hopes that Congress would "expeditiously move to a process that will generate an outcome that is better for the American people than what is in place today."

After the skeletal bill's demise, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seemed to concede defeat. The Kentucky Republican said it was "time to move on" rather than trying again to pass a GOP bill. He said he wants to hear ideas from Democrats about what to do next.

It was a stunning reversal of fortune for a leader who had shut Democrats out of the process for months.

In his drive to push repeal legislation through the Senate, McConnell had chosen to piece together various proposals with input from a small group of Republican senators, but no Democrats. He then took the bills directly to the Senate floor instead of running them through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Alexander chairs.

When that strategy collapsed, Arizona Sen. John McCain, one of three Republicans who provided the votes to kill the skeletal bill, suggested the Senate go back to the normal way of legislating -- meaning lawmakers from both parties should come up with a bill and then send the legislation to the relevant committees for hearings.

That would put the issue back in the hands of Alexander, his committee, and the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, and would give them considerable power to shape the legislation -- something they did not have during the recent debate.

"I have great faith in the ability of the senator from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander, the senator from Washington, Patty Murray, and others to work together in a bipartisan fashion to craft a bill that increases competition, lowers costs and improves care for the American people," McCain said in a statement on Friday.

"I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to trust each other, stop the political gamesmanship, and put the health care needs of the American people first. We can do this."

McConnell, who calls the shots when it comes to legislative strategy, remained silent on his next move.

Meanwhile, over in the House, Tennessee Republicans lamented the Senate's failure to pass a bill.

"After seven years of promising the American people that we would save them from Obamacare, the Senate last night broke their promise," said Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin. "After months of debate, they failed to find even a single piece of health care legislation that they could support, including the same bill they passed in 2015, and then they gave up. This is unacceptable."

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a South Pittsburg Republican and a physician who ran for Congress on a pledge to repeal Obamacare, also expressed frustration with the Senate and urged lawmakers not to give up.

"We must keep pressure on defenders -- both Democrats and some Republicans, unfortunately -- of the unacceptable status quo," he said.

Reach Michael Collins at 703-854-8927, at mcollins2@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @mcollinsNEWS.

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