Republican leaders are taking steps to protect their vulnerable senators ahead of an unusual vote that will put them on-the-record about whether they support the Trump administration’s push to have the Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Democrats call McConnell’s move a “show vote,” arguing that under close scrutiny past bills introduced by Republicans to demonstrate their support for keeping protections for pre-existing conditions fall short of that promise. The back-and-forth comes after Schumer took a step rarely employed — by essentially taking control of the floor from McConnell, who typically controls the Senate schedule — and forced the Thursday procedural vote on the Democratic bill.
