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Senate Republicans Worried About Plan to Repeal Obamacare

Key members wary of sudden move without replacement plan.

As GOP Senate leaders scrambled late Monday to line up a vote on a budget resolution this week—the first step in repealing sections of Obamacare—several prominent Republicans voiced new concerns about immediate actions to toss out the health-care law that ensures coverage for 20 million Americans without having a replacement ready. The emerging doubts could put into question the GOP’s ability to meet the 60 votes necessary to repeal the Affordable Care Act outright. Republicans had been pursuing a “repeal and delay” strategy, which would entail a vote on the ACA repeal while also delaying the legislation from going into effect for several years, giving lawmakers time to come up with a replacement. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was one of many lawmakers who told fellow Republicans he believes the outright-repeal plan could prove “problematic” and “not very appealing.” He added that it “doesn’t seem very intelligent” to repeal the health-care law without a replacement already in motion. “To me, it’s much more prudent to figure out where you're going to go from here and attempt to do it all at the same time.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told CNN on Monday that he believes a replacement plan must be up for a vote on the same day that the law is repealed; Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), a harsh Obamacare critic, told CNN: “I want to see the game plan in terms of how you actually enact replacement.”