McConnell to push full repeal of Obamacare

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced late Monday night that he will ditch the “repeal and replace” bill favored by moderate Republicans in the Senate and instead push the 2015 bill that mandates a full repeal of everything Obamacare.

“Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said in a statement.

President Donald Trump had announced his support for a clean repeal weeks ago and reiterated it on Twitter Monday night.

The announcement comes after Sens. Mike Lee and Jerry Moran joined Sens. Susan Collins and Rand Paul in opposing the Obamacare-lite bill being considered in the Senate.

The full repeal passed the House in 2016 and McConnell is putting the lower chamber’s bill up for a vote in the Senate. But the measure faces opposition from moderate Republicans in the Senate who do not want to see Medicare expansion pulled back which could cost their states billions of tax payer dollars.

If the full repeal is amended in the Senate, it will have to go through conference committee and possibly another vote in both houses. If it passes cleanly, only President Trump’s signature will be necessary to make it law.