The top US Senate Republican will unveil a revised version of major healthcare legislation sought by President Donald Trump on Thursday and plans for a vote next week.
With his reputation as a master strategist on the line, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday laid out a timetable for Senate consideration of legislation that would fulfil the Republican president's campaign promise to dismantle the Obamacare law.
It remains to be seen whether he can satisfy moderates and hard-line conservatives in his party.
McConnell also pushed back the Senate's planned August recess by two weeks to allow senators more time to tackle the measure that would repeal key parts of the Obamacare law as well as pursue other legislative priorities.
McConnell said the plan was to vote on the healthcare bill next week, and hoped to have a fresh analysis of the bill from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office at the start of the week. He did not reveal any of the planned changes to the current legislation that has stalled in the Senate.
Senator John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, indicated that Senate leaders remain uncertain over whether the revised bill can attract the 50 votes needed to pass the bill in a chamber the Republicans control 52-48.
The current version of the Senate Republican bill would phase out the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid health insurance for the poor and disabled, sharply cut federal Medicaid spending beginning in 2025, repeal most of Obamacare's taxes, end a penalty on Americans who do not obtain insurance and overhaul Obamacare's subsidies to help people buy insurance with tax credits.
The House of Representatives passed its own version in May.
Democrats are united in opposition to the bill.
Moderate senators are uneasy about the millions of people forecast to lose their medical insurance and hard-line conservatives say it leaves too much of Obamacare intact.
Trump made repealing and replacing Obamacare a top campaign promise last year.
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