[The Hill] A Senate healthcare deal to extend critical ObamaCare payments to insurers appears all but completely dead just 24 hours after it was announced.
President Trump reversed course Wednesday and said he opposed the deal, while Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) office said the Senate should keep its focus on repealing and replacing President Obama’s signature law.
Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the third-ranking Senate Republican, acknowledged the deal had "stalled out."
Some Republican senators said they were working on changes to move the bill in a more conservative direction, but those efforts appeared to have little chance of success.
Democrats, who hailed the agreement on Tuesday, signaled they were preparing to blame Republicans for walking away from the deal crafted by Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the panel’s top Democrat. |