Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Monday that she doesn’t “have enough information” to vote for on the Senate GOP’s health care bill.
The report determined the Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million fewer Americans with health insurance by 2026 than under the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. The Senate proposal would reduce deficits by $321 billion over the next decade. By comparison, the CBO said that the House’s bill to “repeal and replace” Obama’s health care law, which passed in May, would leave 23 million fewer Americans with health insurance by 2026 than under Obamacare.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pressing for a vote this week before lawmakers leave town for the July 4 recess. There are 52 Republican senators, and the bill needs 50 “yes” votes to move through Senate.
Republican senators, many of whom are still undecided on whether to vote for the bill later this week, struggled to defend the legislation .
Murkowski, a key player in deciding the fate of health care, argued senators should have time to look over the CBO numbers.
“I don’t think it’s asking too much to say give us the time to fairly and critically analyze these numbers, ” Murkowski told Bash. “And if you say, well, CBO numbers don’t matter, let’s look at the numbers that you don’t think matter. But it really does make a difference. And these numbers that we’re talking about, these are men and women, these are our families that are being impacted. So let’s please get it right.”
