New Graham-Cassidy health care bill has more funding for some states
In the Senate scramble for 51 votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, there's a new version of the Graham-Cassidy health care bill that's designed to win over the senators from Arizona, Alaska, and Maine.
It has a new funding formula, CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports, and in this version, those three states will actually end up with more funding than under the previous version. The original version slashed funding for about 35 states. Critics are already critical of the mathematical assumptions in the new bill -- they say that those states won't see the savings the authors claim.
And Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Arizona Sen. John McCain have problems with Graham/Cassidy that go deeper than simply how much funding their particular state is getting. Therefore, it's hard to contemplate a mathematical tweak that convinces them to come around. This kind of last-minute change is also precisely what McCain railed against when he announced his "no" vote on Friday.
Another factor -- any increase in federal funding is likely to intensify opposition from Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. Republicans can only afford to lose two Senate GOP votes. Sens. Paul and McCain have said they won't support it. Collins, on "Face the Nation" Sunday, said, "[I]t's hard for me to envision getting to 'yes'" on the bill. Cruz told the Texas Tribune Sunday, "Right now, they don't have my vote." Sen. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, who voted against the last GOP health care bill, has not yet said whether she supports this bill.
In order to use the budgetary tool known as reconciliation to pass this bill with a simple majority, Senate rules require that the legislation not add to the budget. The only way to officially determine this is with a CBO score. CBO may not have time to score this new version before the reconciliation vote deadline, which is now just six days away, Cordes points out.
CBS News' Steve Chaggaris contributed to this report.