Congressional Republicans are unanimous in their desire to “repeal and replace” President Barack Obama’s signature health care law; Obamacare, but they are already flirting with not having the 50 votes needed to pass the bill in the Senate.
A push by Republican congressional leaders to defund Planned Parenthood could threaten passage of their top-priority legislation to repeal Obamacare because of opposition to the anti-abortion provision by two key GOP senators.
House Speaker Paul Ryan announced on Thursday that Republicans will move to strip all federal funding for Planned Parenthood as part of the process they are using early this year to dismantle Obamacare.
While only one Republican, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, has thus far signaled he might vote no on the Obamacare repeal mechanism currently moving through the Senate, potential flashpoints have already emerged that could jeopardize further votes.
Republicans have 52 seats in the Senate, meaning they can only afford to lose three members of their caucus before they cannot pass legislation without Democratic votes.
That measure would likely pass in the House, but two pro-abortion rights GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, won’t commit to approving the bill with the Planned Parenthood provision in it.
The GOP may face a further internal debate over the “replace” piece of the puzzle.
While many Republicans support using budget reconciliation to repeal Obamacare, which is possible due to the tax and revenue-related elements of Obamacare, they cannot use the tactic to replace the bill.
Many Republicans have favored a plan to repeal the bill early in the Trump administration and then take time to come up with a plan to replace it.
