Senator Dean Heller of Nevada became the latest Republican to say he cannot support a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its current form.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, perhaps the most vulnerable Republican facing re-election in 2018, said Friday that he would not support the newly released Senate health care overhaul as written, dealing a serious blow to his party\u2019s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act just days before a showdown vote.
Using remarkably caustic language, Mr. Heller, who is seen as a pivotal swing vote, denounced the Senate-drafted bill in terms that Democrats swiftly seized on. He said the measure would deprive millions of health care and do nothing to lower insurance premiums.
\u201cI cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans, \u201d he said at a news conference in Las Vegas, standing next to Nevada\u2019s Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, who accepted federal funding in the health law to expand Medicaid .
After vowing for the last seven years to tear up what they call Obamacare, congressional Republicans and President Trump are under pressure from their conservative base to fulfill their campaign trail promises. But Republican lawmakers in swing states face an excruciating choice: risk angering their grass-roots supporters by walking away from the repeal effort or expose themselves to ferocious Democratic attacks by pushing through a deeply unpopular bill.
So far, five Republican senators have said they cannot vote for the Affordable Care Act repeal as written: Mr. Heller, whose concerns are with the bill\u2019s benefit cuts, and four hard-line conservatives who say the bill is too generous.
Mr. Heller did not rule out ultimately voting for a version of the bill, leaving the battle for 50 votes ahead of a Senate showdown still very alive. But his denunciation of what is one of the pillars of President Trump\u2019s agenda gave fresh hope to Democrats that they may be able to torpedo the measure.
And it offered a needed morale boost to the Democratic Party after a trying week full of recriminations about why they lost a special congressional election in Georgia on Tuesday, the latest in a series of demoralizing defeats they have suffered this year.
\u201cIt\u2019s an all-hands-on-deck moment, \u201d said Anna Galland, the head of MoveOn. Org, an advocacy group firmly on the liberal wing of the party. \u201cWe are unified out of urgent, building-is-burning-down necessity. And health care is by far our top priority.\u201d
Scrambling to halt or at least slow the Senate\u2019s repeal effort, a range of Democratic and progressive leaders said Friday that they intended to intensify pressure on Republican lawmakers.
Liberal groups have already organized protests against the bill, and Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, plans to lead a campaign-style tour this weekend through West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, three states with Republican senators that also expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Planned Parenthood, which would be defunded under the Senate bill, has been running television ads targeting Mr. Heller, as well as Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, also up for re-election next year, and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
And in recent days, potential Democratic challengers have stepped forward against both Mr. Heller and Mr. Flake, the two Republicans most likely to face tough races in 2018. In Nevada, Representative Jacky Rosen has signaled she is likely to run against Mr. Heller, and Randy Friese, an Arizona state representative and trauma surgeon, said he is leaning toward challenging Mr. Flake. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who is a Democrat, is also believed to be considering a campaign.
Senate Republicans crafted their bill behind closed doors, drawing considerably less news attention than House Republicans who formally drafted their version of the legislation in open sessions. But Democrats believe the coming week represents their best and perhaps final chance to thwart repeal of the health law.
\u201cThis is the one opportunity we have to shine a light on this legislation, and we will do it day and night, \u201d said Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, projecting the bill\u2019s passage \u201ca jump ball.\u201d
The Senate Democratic campaign arm, which Mr. Van Hollen chairs, plan to increase its spending this week on internet ads focused on the health measure in Nevada and Arizona, as well as Texas and Florida, which also have Senate races in 2018. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is just one of a series of liberal groups that are airing spots \u2014 online and on television and radio \u2014 to pressure up-for-grabs Senate Republicans into opposing the overhaul.
Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, two centrist Republicans who at times defy their party, are also facing intense lobbying to vote no.
Strikingly, there has been little in the way of advertising from the right pushing Republicans to support the bill. But Mr. Heller\u2019s criticism Friday infuriated allies of Mr. Trump. America First Policies, a super PAC aligned with the White House, was gearing up to spend $1 million worth of advertising in Nevada aimed at making him change his mind, according to a person familiar with the group\u2019s plans.
Indeed, Mr. Heller may best reflect the tensions within the larger Republican Party. He is a popular but vulnerable lawmaker from a purple state that is full of rural conservatives but is increasingly shaped by a rising minority population in and around Las Vegas, its population center. And while Mr. Heller has called for repealing the Affordable Care Act \u2014 a promise that thrills the Republican base \u2014 he has also, like many of his colleagues, consistently reassured voters that their health coverage would improve under a Republican alternative.
A number of Mr. Heller\u2019s colleagues who fit that broad description could face backlash down the line, in 2020 or beyond, if they vote for a bill that proves deeply unpopular as a matter of law. Along with Mr. Sandoval, several other Republican governors have voiced similar criticism of the bill, including Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Larry Hogan of Maryland and John Kasich of Ohio.
Mr. Kasich shares a home state with Senator Rob Portman, a Republican who was just re-elected to a second term in November, and has not yet taken a stance on the Senate legislation.
Standing with Mr. Heller, Mr. Sandoval offered a robust case for protecting those who have received insurance under the Medicaid expansion \u2014 an effort that could prompt some Senate Republican hard-liners already uneasy about the bill to walk away.
\u201cThese are our friends. These are our families. These are our neighbors, \u201d Mr. Sandoval said of the 210,000 Nevadans who obtained Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. \u201cThese are folks who are worth fighting for.\u201d
The health debate is not just playing out in the Capitol and in those states that are home to swing senators. In Virginia, where an upcoming election for governor in November is the Democrats\u2019 next electoral priority, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam castigated his Republican opponent this week for failing to take an unequivocal stance on the Senate bill.
Mr. Northam, who won his party\u2019s nomination for governor in a contested primary this month, attacked the legislation as \u201cimmoral\u201d and expressed incredulity that Ed Gillespie, the Republican nominee, said he needed more time to study it.
\u201cIf they do repeal the Affordable Care Act, it\u2019s literally going to put hundreds of thousands of Virginians at risk of losing their coverage, \u201d Mr. Northam said, adding: \u201cI don\u2019 t think they have a clue what they\u2019 re doing in Washington right now.\u201d
Mr. Northam, who is a pediatric neurologist, said health care would be one of the central themes of his campaign, warning: \u201cEverybody should be worried.\u201d
The bill is also expected to face resistance from mayors, including some Republicans, during a meeting of the U. S. Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach this weekend. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the incoming president of the organization, said the Republican bill was a \u201cnon-starter\u201d that plainly fell short of the standards Mr. Trump and Republicans set for themselves.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 26<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0.6<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 20<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 0<\/div>\n

TW likes: 2<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: 10<\/div>\n<\/div>\n