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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a series of tweets early Thursday morning that House Republicans’ Obamacare replacement bill lacks the support it would need to pass the Senate.
Republicans unveiled their alternative to the Affordable Care Act — the American Health Care Act — earlier this week. A number of conservative Republicans have expressed opposition to the bill although it has the support of President Donald Trump.
Cotton urged his colleagues to “start over” and said that the party shouldn’t push rushed health care legislation through as the Democrats did with the Affordable Care Act.
“Get it right, don't get it fast,” he wrote:
1. House health-care bill can't pass Senate w/o major changes. To my friends in House: pause, start over. Get it right, don't get it fast.— Tom Cotton (@Tom Cotton) 1489056827.0
2. GOP shouldn't act like Dems did in O'care. No excuse to release bill Mon night, start voting Wed. With no budget estimate!— Tom Cotton (@Tom Cotton) 1489057110.0
3. What matters in long run is better, more affordable health care for Americans, NOT House leaders' arbitrary legislative calendar.— Tom Cotton (@Tom Cotton) 1489057259.0
Cotton’s tweets came shortly after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance the legislation.
According to The Hill, House Republicans want the bill voted on before the Easter recess, but several Senate Republicans say the bill will be dead on arrival once the House sends it to the upper chamber.
The Hill also reported that Democrats have proposed 100 amendments to the House legislation in an effort to stall it because it does not yet have a score from the Congressional Budget Office.
Several other Republican senators have criticized the bill, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has indicated that he will introduce his own alternative legislation.
