Sen. Mike Lee announced Monday evening he would not to move forward with the current Senate health care proposal, meaning the measure is dead for now.
Lee joins Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Jerry Moran in opposing the measure. The Senate GOP could only afford two defections and still have enough support to pass the bill. With Lee’s opposition, the bill cannot pass in its current form.
In a statement, Lee said, “In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle-class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had already delayed a vote on the bill for at least a week because Arizona Sen. John McCain was at home recovering from surgery.
Lee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had proposed an amendment to the Senate bill that would allow insurance companies to sell bare-bones policies that did not conform to current federal requirements as long as they still offered coverage that did comply. That proposal was not included in the current version of the bill.
