The timeline leading up to the Senate’s ACA repeal vote

Senate Republican leaders appear to be sticking to their goal of holding a vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), their vehicle for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, by the end of June, despite resistance from both Democrats and the healthcare industry on legislation that has yet to be released.

Politico first reported on the plans of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, which would give lawmakers no more than a week to review the bill. Here’s how the timeline could play out over the next few days:

• June 21: Republicans meet privately to receive a rundown of the bill
• June 22: Full legislative text released to Republicans
• June 26 or 27: The Congressional Budget Office releases its report on the legislation, which hadn’t been completed before the House passed its version on May 4
• Between June 27 and 30: Final vote on the AHCA

There are still plenty of questions about the planned process, including how long legislators will have to debate the bill. While the Senate debated the ACA for about a month in 2009 before it was voted upon, McConnell wouldn’t commit to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-New York, request for at least 10 hours to review the bill.

"We'll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill," McConnell said.

What is certain is the legislation will skip all Senate committees. Democrats also attacked on this point, sending a letter listing the various Capitol Hill committee rooms available for hearings on the AHCA. Party members have begun objecting to all “unanimous consent requests” in the Senate in an attempt to spotlight the fast-tracked, secretive process.

“Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because they’re ashamed of it, plain and simple,” Schumer said in a statement. “These are merely the first steps we’re prepared to take in order to shine a light on this shameful Trumpcare bill and reveal to the public the GOP’s true intentions: To give the uber-wealthy a tax break while making middle class Americans pay more for less health care coverage. If Republicans won’t relent and debate their health care bill in the open for the American people to see, then they shouldn’t expect business as usual in the Senate.”

Republicans have also complained about the legislative process as well as the substance of the bill, especially how quickly and deeply it cuts funding to Medicaid and rolls back the ACA’s expanded eligibility of the program. Resistance by a few could kill the bill, as all Democrats are united in their opposition, leaving Republicans just two votes to spare to pass it. 

“The plan the House laid down does not help Alaska,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in an interview with Vox. “It does not help decrease their costs, and it does not help increase their access. So the question is whether or not what is being built on the Senate side is going to better reflect that. My hope is that it will. I can't show to my constituents back home anything concrete because we don't have anything. We've been talking about ideas. But for instance, if you are going to eliminate Medicaid expansion or even if you're going to wind down Medicaid expansion, that's not increasing access.”