GOP Expected To Pass Its Health Care Bill At Long Last, But Still A Long Way To Go
Republicans appear to have finally gotten their health care bill.
After seven years of repeal-and-replace rhetoric against the Affordable Care Act, two presidential campaigns waged for and against it and a recent high-profile failure, GOP House leaders say they have the votes for their bill.
The trouble is this bill is likely never to become law — at least in its current iteration.
Here's why: While the bill is expected to pass the House (narrowly) Thursday afternoon, it still has to go to the Senate. It's being done with a wink and a promise that the Senate will overhaul substantial portions of the bill.
"This thing is going to the United States Senate. It's going to change in my view in the United States Senate in some way," Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a deputy whip in the House, told NPR's. (He's one of the people in charge of making sure Republicans have the votes.) "Then we have to have we can do that, then it has to still pass the House and the Senate again before it ever gets to the president. So at some point, you just have to move."
