The Senate announced that the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would not be brought forward to a vote. The bill was announced approximately two weeks ago and seemed to have some momentum. However, Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Paul (R-KY) quickly came out against the bill. On Monday, Senator Collins (R-ME) announced that she would vote no, leading to the bill's collapse.
Under the budget reconciliation process, the Senate could pass the bill with 50 votes, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote. As there are 52 Republicans in the Senate, the GOP could only afford to lose 2 votes. With Sen. Collins announcement, Republicans became officially 1 vote shy. The ability to pass a repeal of the ACA under the reconciliation process ends September 30. After that, any repeal effort would require a minimum of 60 votes. As it currently stands, the ACA is the law of the land. All mandates and reporting requirements must continue to be met or penalties will be assessed.
