Senate steers toward showdown vote next week on health bill
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans steered toward a potential showdown vote on their long-awaited health care bill next week, despite indications that they’ve yet to solidify the 50 GOP votes they’ll need to avert an embarrassing defeat.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he expected to have a draft of the bill ready Thursday. The measure would peel away much of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and leave government with a more limited role in providing coverage and helping people afford it.
“We have to act, and we are,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Later, he simply chortled when asked if he was confident the measure would pass, a victory that would elude him if just three of the 52 GOP senators voted no.