WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress may vote to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law before coming up with a replacement, GOP leaders said Tuesday.
The approach could allow congressional Republicans to take swift action on one of President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promises, while putting off the hard part. And while repealing the law could be done with GOP votes alone, any replacement plan would likely require the cooperation of minority Democrats in the Senate, something that will not be easy to come by.
"Nothing's been decided yet but I would move through and repeal and then go to work on replacing," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol. "I think once it's repealed you will have hopefully fewer people playing politics, and then everybody coming to the table to find the best policy."
"We will get started on this right way," the California Republican added. Without specifying a timeline, McCarthy suggested Congress could vote on a repeal quickly, while putting off the date for it to take effect. As that date neared, McCarthy predicted, there would be political pressure for all parties to come together around a replacement.
Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, outlined a similar process, with a repeal vote followed by "a multiyear transition into the replacement."
"This is a failed piece of legislation and it's coming apart at the seams," Cornyn said, "but it's going to take us a while to make that transition from the repeal to actually replacing it with more affordable coverage."
Six years after the Affordable Health Care Act became law, congressional Republicans have voted dozens of times to repeal it in part or full. However, they still haven't unified behind legislation to replace it, or to ensure the 20 million people who've gained coverage don't suddenly find themselves uninsured.
Now that Trump has won the presidency and Republicans will control both chambers of Congress next year, the GOP will have to deliver. That is certain to be tricky.
In one complication, Republicans can use a legislative maneuver called "budget reconciliation" to repeal the health law with a simple majority vote in the 100-member Senate. But to advance a replacement they would likely need 60 votes, requiring some Democrats to go along. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, has already warned Republicans he will try to turn their efforts to repeal the health law into a political nightmare.
Democrats argued Tuesday that GOP plans to pass a repeal bill but delay the replacement wouldn't work. The resulting uncertainty could cause insurance companies to flee the marketplace, Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, said.