Economy

How Your Senator Voted on Health Care

July 25th 2017

One week after the Republican plan to kill the Affordable Care Act were prematurely pronounced dead, the Senate narrowly voted to keep the repeal effort alive. 

donny-trumpGetty/SeanGallu/REX/Shutterstock/AP - apimages.com

The Senate was deadlocked at 50-50, with two Republican Senators—Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Me.)—casting "no" votes. Vice President Mike Pence was called in to break the tie. 

The vote on a motion to proceed simply means the Senate will enter a debate about the bill.

What happens next is unclear because there's still disagreement among Senate Republicans over the final form the health care legislation should take.

Senators are expected to consider an earlier version of their health care bill, which would repeal and replace Obamacare, as well as a straight repeal. But some have speculated that Republicans will ultimately go for a "skinny repeal" of Obamacare, which would eliminate Republicans' least favorite aspects of the law.

Under "skinny repeal," the individual mandate, which imposes a tax penalty for people without insurance, would get the ax. 

mitch-mcconnellAP/J. Scott Applewhite - apimages.com

Eliminating the individual mandate "could prove extremely disruptive to the individual insurance markets, where people buy coverage if they don't get it through their employers or the government, if it became law," Vox reported. "Health insurance works as a business only if as many healthy people buy insurance as possible to offset the costs of paying for sick people's health care."

In short, repealing the individual mandate would mean less healthy people would buy insurance because they wouldn't be forced to, meaning health insurers would have to charge sick people more to make a profit.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) hasn't scored a "skinny" repeal bill because it's not currently written. But last week, the CBO said the Senate's latest plan to repeal and replace Obamacare would leave 22 million Americans without insurance over the next 10 years and reduce the federal deficit by $420 billion.

Here's who voted in favor of the motion to proceed.

  • Dean Heller (R-Nev.)
  • Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
  • John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
  • Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
  • Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
  • James Lankford (R-Okla.)
  • Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
  • Mike Lee (R-Utah)
  • Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
  • Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
  • Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
  • John Boozman (R-Ark.)
  • Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
  • Deb Fischer (R-Neb.)
  • Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
  • Jim Risch (R-Idaho)
  • Michael Crapo (R-Idaho)
  • John Hoeven (R-N.D.)
  • Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.)
  • Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
  • Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)
  • John Thune (R-S.D.)
  • Michael Enzi (R- Wyo.)
  • Richard Burr (R-N.C. )
  • James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
  • Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)
  • Todd Young (R-Ind.)
  • John McCain (R-Ariz.)
  • Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
  • Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.)
  • Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
  • Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)
  • Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
  • Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
  • Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
  • Michael Rounds (R-S.D.)
  • Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
  • David Perdue (R-Ga.)
  • Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
  • John Kennedy (R-La.)
  • Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
  • Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
  • Lindsey Graham (R- S.C.)
  • Cory Gardner (R-Colo.)
  • Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
  • Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)
  • John Cornyn (R-Tex.)
  • Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)
  • Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

Here's who voted against the motion to proceed.

  • Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
  • Susan Collins (R-Me.)
  • Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
  • Brian Schatz Hawaii (D-Hawaii)
  • Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
  • Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
  • Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
  • Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
  • Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
  • Joe Manchin (D-W.V.)
  • Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
  • Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
  • Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
  • Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)
  • Gary Peters (D-Mich.)
  • Mark Warner (D-Va.)
  • Edward Markey (D-Mass.)
  • Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
  • Cory Booker (D-N.J.)
  • Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
  • Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.)
  • Tom Udall (D-N.M.)
  • Bob Casey (D-Pa.)
  • Chris Coons (D-Del.)
  • Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.)
  • Debbie Stabenow(D-Mich.)
  • Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
  • Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
  • Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.)
  • Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
  • Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
  • Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
  • Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
  • Jon Tester (D-Mont.)
  • Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
  • Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
  • Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
  • Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.)
  • Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
  • Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
  • Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
  • Al Franken (D-Minn.)
  • Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
  • Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.)
  • Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
  • Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)
  • Angus King (I-Me.)
  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)