Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he doesn’t know what a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare would have to look like in order to get at least 50 senators’ support.
“I don’t know how we get to 50 (votes) at the moment,” McConnell said. “But that’s the goal.”
The Kentucky Republican, in an interview with Reuters, added he will not be reaching across the aisle to craft a healthcare plan because of the differences between the parties on the issue.
Republicans are using a budget measure called reconciliation to pass their healthcare bill, which requires only a simple majority of votes. They cannot lose more than two senators, assuming Vice President Mike Pence would cast the tie-breaking vote, to send a healthcare bill to committee.
McConnell said he didn’t have news to share on healthcare, and did not provide a timetable for when members could expect a draft of the bill. Changes to the tax code were “in my view not as challenging as healthcare,” he said.
The House passed a bill in early May to repeal and replace portions of Obamacare, but the Senate is writing its own version of the bill.
