Health Care

Ted Cruz doesn’t support latest ObamaCare repeal bill

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he isn’t on board with legislation to repeal ObamaCare, raising the possibility that the GOP’s latest effort to derail the healthcare law will fail once again.

“Right now they don’t have my vote and I don’t think they have [Sen.] Mike Lee’s either,” Cruz said at the Texas Tribune Festival, The Hill reported on Sunday.

The Texas Republican said he and Lee (R-Utah) discussed the measure with its sponsors – GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – about making some changes to the legislation, adding that they wanted to be won over.

“We said if you take these edits we’re a yes. They took our edits and then a day later they removed our edits,” Cruz said.

In addition to Cruz and Lee, several other GOP senators – including Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – are undecided about the legislation.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who cast the deciding vote in July to defeat a measure repealing ObamaCare, announced Friday that he “cannot in good conscience” vote for the Cassidy-Graham proposal.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also come out against the measure, calling it “ObamaCare lite.”

A defection by another Republican senator would send the measure to defeat in the Senate, where the GOP has 52-48 majority margin. No Democrats are expected to vote in favor of repeal.

Cassidy and Graham are trying to push a vote for this week before Senate budget rules change at the end of the month and require 60 votes for passage.

Cruz said that was a “bogus” deadline.

“We can do budget resolutions, and budget reconciliation, at any point. We can do it after Sept. 30,” he said.