Senate GOP unveils ‘Obamacare’ overhaul, but not all aboard
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans launched their plan for shriveling Barack Obama’s health care law Thursday, edging a step closer to their dream of repeal with a bill that would slice and reshape Medicaid for the poor, relax rules on insurers and end tax increases on higher earners that have helped finance expanded coverage for millions.
Four conservative GOP senators quickly announced initial opposition to the measure and others were evasive, raising the spectre of a jarring rejection by the Republican-controlled body. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated he was open to discussion and seemed determined to muscle the measure through his chamber next week.
Release of the 142-page proposal ended the long wait for one of the most closely guarded bills in years. McConnell stitched it together behind closed doors, potentially moving President Donald Trump and the GOP a step closer to achieving perhaps their greatest goal — repealing former President Obama’s 2010 statute, his proudest domestic legacy.
At the White House, Trump spoke of a bill “with heart.” On Facebook, Obama said at the heart of the bill was “fundamental meanness.”