WASHINGTON — Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas declared on Monday night that they would oppose the Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, killing for now a seven-year-old promise to overturn president Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement.The announcement by the senators, both Republicans, left their leaders two votes short of the necessary tally to begin debate on their bill to dismantle the health law. Two other Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine, had already said they would not support a procedural step to begin debate.“There are serious problems with Obamacare, and my goal remains what it has been for a long time: to repeal and replace it,” Moran said in a statement. He added that the Senate repeal bill “failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act or address health care’s rising costs.”Read more: Major insurance groups slam GOP health bill, say policy is ‘unworkable in any form’Can Republicans pass one of the most unpopular bills ever?: AnalysisTrump suggests repealing Obamacare now, replacing it later if GOP senators can’t strike a dealIn his own statement, Lee said of the bill, “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.”By jumping together, Moran and Lee ensured that no one would be the definitive “no” vote.With four solid votes against the bill, Republican leaders were faced with two options: go back and try to rewrite the bill in a way that could secure 50 Republican votes, a seeming impossibility at this point, or do as Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, had promised and team with Democrats to draft a narrower, bipartisan measure to fix the flaws in the Affordable Care Act that both parties acknowledge ...
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