Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday delayed a vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act until after the July 4 recess, indicating he lacks support to advance the bill.
The delay came one day after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 22 million people would lose coverage under the GOP plan, thanks in large part to massive cuts to Medicaid.
The delay buys McConnell, who could only afford to lose two GOP votes, more time to shore up support in his caucus. While many Republicans have firmly expressed support for the bill, and others who say they’re still reviewing the legislation are likely to vote in favor of it, there remain several holdouts among conservative and moderate factions of the party.
Here’s a look at where the senators who forced McConnell to postpone the vote currently stand:
Opposed to advancing the bill in its current form
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Collins announced Monday she will vote no on a procedural motion to advance the bill in its current form.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.)
Heller, the first moderate senator to oppose the legislation, has vowed to withhold support for the bill because of its cuts to Medicaid.
“It’s going to be very difficult to get me to a yes,” Heller said Friday. “They have a lot of work to do.”
He said the CBO analysis “doesn’t look good.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
Johnson has said he’ll vote against a motion to proceed, and took issue with Senate leadership pushing for a vote this week.
“There’s no way we should be voting on [the bill] this next week, no way,” he said Sunday.
It’s unclear whether Johnson’s position has changed now that the vote has been delayed.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
Lee announced Tuesday he will not vote to advance the bill without changes.
Previously, Lee said he believes the bill doesn’t do enough to lower health care costs.
“The Senate bill keeps the Democrats’ broken system intact, just with less spending on the poor to pay for corporate bailouts and tax cuts,” Lee said in a statement Friday.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Paul told reporters on Monday that the bill is “terrible.”
“It’s worse to pass a bad bill than to pass no bill,” he said. “And 2018 is going to roll around and people are going to ask themselves, ‘Are my premiums lower?’ and they’re going to find out, ‘You know what, my premiums still went up 25 percent.’”
Paul has accused GOP leadership of refusing to negotiate with the party’s holdouts, and is taking his concerns to President Donald Trump.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
Capito and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in a joint statement Tuesday they could not support the bill “as drafted.”
Capito, who represents a state hit hard by the opioid crisis and faces pressure at home to oppose the legislation, previously expressed discomfort with the bill’s extensive cuts to Medicaid. Capito and Portman requested far more funding for the opioid crisis than the bill ended up including.
“As drafted, this bill will not ensure access to affordable health care in West Virginia, does not do enough to combat the opioid epidemic that is devastating my state, cuts traditional Medicaid too deeply, and harms rural health care providers,” Capito said.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
Portman said Tuesday the bill “falls short,” after previously saying he had “real concerns about the Medicaid policies in this bill, especially those that impact drug treatment at a time when Ohio is facing an opioid epidemic.”
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
Moran announced his opposition to the current version of the bill shortly after McConnell said he was postponing the vote.
Concerned — and still reviewing the bill
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
Cassidy previously said an Obamacare repeal bill would have to meet the “Jimmy Kimmel” test ― ensuring parents won’t have to choose between saving their child’s life or going bankrupt ― to earn his support. While Cassidy said last week he believes the current bill does pass that test, he shifted slightly after the release of the CBO score.
“It makes me more concerned,” he said.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Cruz has expressed opposition to the bill as its written, and has cited the CBO’s conclusion that premiums wouldn’t go down under the legislation. However, Cruz has declined to say whether he would vote against the bill this week, saying it’s still “a work in progress.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
McCain told reporters on Monday there’s “lots” of things in the bill he doesn’t like, but is not opposed to moving to debate.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Murkowksi said Monday she doesn’t “have enough information” to vote in favor of the legislation, but has not yet firmly said she opposes it.
“This is big stuff, and so making sure that we get it right is something that I have said is an imperative,” she said.
In addition to concerns for her constituents who benefitted from Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, Murkowksi has vowed to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood — something the current bill doesn’t do. (Collins said Tuesday she’s working on an amendment with Murkowski to address this.)
This article has been updated to reflect changes in position.