There is no chance the House GOP’s plan to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act will leave the Senate the way it comes in, Sen. Bob Corker said Thursday.
He made the remarks on MSNBC hours before the House was set to vote on the American Health Care Act.
Corker said he’s not been following much of what the House is doing on healthcare, since his office “turned the volume off” on healthcare reform after the bill was pulled from the floor last month. But he guaranteed the Senate wouldn’t rubber stamp the House’s bill.
“No. Zero. That’s not the way it’s going to work,” he said, when asked if the bill could escape changes and what the chances are it would pass quickly in the Senate.
He added, “People over here want to make sure it’s something that’s going to work for the American people.”
Corker predicted senators would spend at least a month reviewing the House bill before starting the process of making changes.
The House is expected to vote on the bill Thursday afternoon, and House Republican leadership is confident it will pass. It remains to be seen if Senate Republicans can muster the votes to pass the bill.
Corker said he couldn’t get a read on what would happen in the Senate because healthcare isn’t a major issue for the upper chamber at the moment.
“Nothing has been laid out over here,” he said. “All of us are pretty much focused on other things until we get the bill.”
