but with their retooled healthcare plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned
for a vote next week on revised legislation, unveiled on Thursday, and he has
his work cut out for him in the coming days to get the 50 "yes" votes
needed for passage. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin and cannot
afford to lose more than two from within their ranks because of united
Democratic opposition, but two Republican senators already have declared
opposition.
"After all of these years of suffering
thru Obamacare, Republican Senators must come through as they have
promised," Trump, who made gutting Obamacare one of his central campaign
promises last year, wrote on Twitter from Paris, where he attended Bastille Day
celebrations.
The top U.S. doctors' group, the American
Medical Association, on Friday called the new bill inadequate and said more
bipartisan collaboration is needed in the months ahead to improve the delivery
and financing of healthcare. Hospital and medical advocacy groups also have
criticized the bill.
"The revised bill does not address the
key concerns of physicians and patients regarding proposed Medicaid cuts and
inadequate subsidies that will result in millions of Americans losing health
insurance coverage," AMA President Dr. David Barbe said, referring to the
government insurance program for the poor and disabled.
A major test for McConnell's legislation
expected early next week is an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Office, which last month forecast that the prior version of the bill would have
resulted in 22 million Americans losing insurance over the next decade.
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