I don’t see...

Burr: ‘I don’t see a comprehensive health care plan this year’

By MADELINE CONWAY

Sen. Richard Burr doesn’t think Republicans will get a full health care overhaul bill through the Senate this year, he told a North Carolina news station Thursday.

“It's unlikely that we will get a health care deal, which means that most of my time has been spent trying to figure out solutions to Iowa losing all of its insurers,” he told WXII 12 News, describing the bill passed in the House last month as “not a good plan” and “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

“I don’t see a comprehensive health care plan this year,” Burr said.

The Senate is drafting its own legislation after House Republicans narrowly passed their proposal to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care reform law.

The House bill is widely regarded as too conservative to pass through the Senate, where Republicans can afford to lose only two of their 52 votes, with Vice President Mike Pence voting to break a 50-50 tie. Then the House would have to vote to pass the Senate version or the two bills would need to be reconciled in conference, followed by another vote in each chamber on the final legislation.

Republican leaders in the Senate have vowed to move ahead on health care legislation, though Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has acknowledged that the votes needed to pass something aren’t there yet.