How the GOP could still salvage the Obamacare repeal
And key Republican leaders are confident that pressure will eventually weaken the holdouts. Old-timers recall the 2003 vote on the Medicare prescription drug benefit, during which leaders held open the vote for almost three hours while a whip team blocked all the exits from the House floor until they had twisted enough arms.
.. Yet the debate over the repeal bill is the latest sign that Republicans and Democrats are miles apart on health care, and there’s little indication the two parties can bridge that gap anytime soon. In a floor speech Thursday, Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) trashed Republicans’ work on health care, calling their efforts not just a “crumbling and destruction of health care, but also a crumbling of our democracy.”
.. Do nothing and blame the Democrats
Trump said it himself just weeks ago: “I say to Republicans, if you really want to do something good, don’t do anything. … Let it be a disaster.”
Republicans could shelve their quest to overhaul the health care system, hope Obamacare premiums keep spiking and insurers keep fleeing marketplaces and bet they won’t pay the political price in 2018. Trump has already expressed his misgivings about taking ownership of health reform, and privately assured conservative groups that he can pin the whole mess on Democrats if the repeal effort fails.