Obamacare: US senators vote in favour of debating repeal
The US Senate has voted to start
debating a new Republican healthcare bill in a major step forward for
President Donald Trump's attempts to repeal his predecessor's signature
law.
In a tight vote, several Republicans previously opposed to aspects of the plan changed their minds.
Prior attempts to replace Obamacare have collapsed in recent weeks due to divisions in the Republican party.
President Trump had made scrapping the policy a key campaign pledge.
On
Tuesday night, the Senate began the debate-and-vote process which is
expected to last a number of days. Nine Republicans voted against the
first amendment - to repeal and replace Obamacare - and it failed to
pass.
Earlier, Mr Trump had warned his party's senators of the
repercussions of not pushing through the measures to repeal and replace
Obamacare, known formally as the Affordable Care Act.
The
Republican party, which needed a majority for the motion to go ahead,
secured 51 votes after Vice-President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaker in
support of the legislation.
Senator John McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive
brain tumour, received a standing ovation as he returned to Congress to
cast his "Yes" vote.
President Trump tweeted his thanks to the Arizona senator for playing "such a vital role" in the vote.
"Congrats to all Rep. We can now deliver grt [great] healthcare to all Americans," he wrote.
What happens next?
It remains unclear what measure senators will now debate and vote on.
There
appear to be two choices - either a repeal-and-replace bill that has
already struggled to win support across the party, or a bill that enacts
repeal with a two-year delay, in the hope of finding agreement before
that time elapses.
But senators have also considered a "skinny
bill", a far narrower measure that would scale back some of the more
controversial elements in an effort to get a wider consensus.
BBC
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