Cornyn: GOP won’t delay ObamaCare repeal vote

Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said Monday that leaders would not delay the vote on their ObamaCare repeal bill and that the vote would come this week.

I am closing the door. We need to do it this week before double digit premium increases are announced for next year. https://t.co/Cxi3qAslg3

— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 26, 2017

Cornyn had left the door open over the weekend to pushing the vote back into July, but he is now “closing the door” to that option. 

Leaders are moving forward with a vote this week despite opposition to their bill from a number of Republican senators. 

{mosads}Four conservative senators are currently opposed to the bill: Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). On the more moderate side, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) is also opposed to the current bill. 

Leaders have said that they do not think adding more time will help them win votes, and they do not want the issue to eat up more of the calendar.

A Congressional Budget Office analysis and a slightly revised bill, adding a six-month waiting period to sign up for people with gaps in coverage, are expected later Monday. That waiting period is an alternative to ObamaCare’s mandate for people to have coverage and is intended to get healthy people to enroll. 

Leaders could make more changes to their bill to try to win over votes later in the week.