McConnell’s Political Gamble: Wily Strategist Likely To Hold Vote Despite Uncertainty Over Passage

The Associated Press: GOP Eyes Senate Health Care Vote Next Week, Amid Grumbling
Republicans are angling toward a Senate vote next week on their marquee effort to erase much of President Barack Obama's health care law. But there's plenty of grumbling from senators across the GOP spectrum, and leaders haven't yet nailed down the support they'll need to prevail. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Tuesday that there's "more work to do" before the bill adequately cuts premiums. A second conservative, Utah's Mike Lee, complained about not seeing the legislation despite being on the working group of senators assigned to craft it and said lawmakers should have seen the measure "weeks ago" if they're to vote next week. And Alaska moderate Lisa Murkowski said she didn't know how she'd vote, adding, "I have no idea what the deal is." (6/21)

Politico: Fate Of Obamacare Repeal Uncertain In Senate
The GOP plan to jam through a bill over the next 10 days amounts to a rare political risk by McConnell with no guarantee of success — and one that could jeopardize his Senate majority long-term if the bill ends up being viewed as poorly as the House-passed bill, which has a 17 percent approval rating. McConnell himself wouldn’t guarantee passage on Tuesday, or even commit to a vote next week, though that is his plan. (Everett and Haberkorn, 6/20)

Politico: How McConnell Gets To 50 Votes To Repeal Obamacare
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to nail down 50 GOP votes to repeal Obamacare. He has no easy options. He can lean toward conservatives like Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah, who want to dismantle as much of Obamacare as they possibly can. But if he does that, he risks losing a group of Senate moderates, including Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who are pushing for a slower phase-out of the Medicaid expansion that is covering low-income people in some of their states. (Haberkorn, 6/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Faces Hard Sell On Health Bill
Senate Republicans’ quest for the 50 votes needed to pass their health-care bill has put them in hot pursuit of one duck-hunting, occasionally defiant GOP senator: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) confirmed Tuesday that the bill’s text would be released Thursday and a vote held likely next week, triggering an intensified effort to secure the votes of senators like Ms. Murkowski. An assessment of the bill’s impact by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is expected by early next week. (Peterson and Armour, 6/20)

CQ HealthBeat: Senate Health Care Bill Begins Taking Shape
Senate Republican leaders appeared late Tuesday to be settling on a strategy for bringing a major health care bill to the floor. A summary circulating among lobbyists Tuesday night would tilt in conservatives’ direction on many items with one particularly notable exception: the omission of language expanding limits on abortion and defunding Planned Parenthood. Republicans did not confirm the details that lobbyists were sharing, which may be outdated and may change during the next couple of days of negotiations. But the information provides the first glimpse of what Senate Republicans have been constructing during weeks of closed-door discussions. (Williams, Young and McIntire, 6/20)

The Hill: White House: Trump Wants GOP ObamaCare Repeal To 'Have Heart' 
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday doubled down on President Trump's reported remarks that the House GOP's healthcare bill lacks "heart." Asked during a press briefing to confirm the remarks and explain what Trump wants to see in the final bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare, Spicer said Trump "clearly wants a bill that has heart in it." "This is an area that the president believes passionately about," Spicer told reporters. (Bowden, 6/20)

The Hill: Health Plans Slam Medicaid Cuts In Emerging Senate Bill
Ten of the country’s largest health plans are calling on Senate Republicans to reconsider the Medicaid changes under discussion as part of ObamaCare repeal. The proposals being discussed “do not enact meaningful, needed repairs to the ACA,” the plans said in a letter to both Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), referring to the Affordable Care Act. A leading option in the Senate's ObamaCare repeal-and-replace debate is to make even deeper cuts to Medicaid spending than the bill passed by the House. Under the proposal, the federal government would put a cap on its share of Medicaid payments to states beginning in 2020. (Weixel, 6/20)

Politico: Poll: Opposition To GOP Health Bill Is On The Rise
Opposition to the Republican health bill is growing, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. As the GOP-led Senate prepares to take up the measure, only 35 percent of voters surveyed approve of the bill passed by the House last month. Nearly half of voters, 49 percent, disapprove of the bill. The other 16 percent don’t know or don’t have an opinion, the poll shows. (Shepard, 6/21)

Kansas City Star: Kansas City Families With Stake In AHCA Concerned About Possible Senate Vote
Supporters of the Republican bill say that it will encourage states to find innovative ways to maintain coverage for those who need it most while curbing unsustainable cost increases. Other groups are concerned about the bill allowing states to give health insurers the freedom to charge more based on pre-existing conditions and the end of the Medicaid expansion program that provided federal cash to extend health coverage to low-income people in states that opted in. (Marso, 6/20)

In other news from Capitol Hill -

Roll Call: Ivanka Trump, Senators Hope To Push Family Tax Credits
A group of Senate Republicans met with Ivanka Trump on Tuesday to begin constructing a tax credit package that could include family leave and other child care proposals. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who touted paid family leave during his 2016 presidential run, said lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter discussed a variety of tax proposals meant to benefit families, particularly those who are low-income. (Wilkins, 6/21)