Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has released an updated version of the Better Care Act in hopes to round up 50 votes to get the legislation, classified by some as Obamacare repeal and by others as Obamacare-lite, to President Trump's desk by mid-August.
But before the revamped legislation was released Thursday afternoon, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul declared the bill nearly worse than Obamacare and announced his refusal to vote for it.
"The Republicans don't fix the death spiral of Obamacare, they subsidize it," Paul said on Fox and Friends Thursday morning. "I can't vote for something that doesn't repeal Obamacare."
Meet the new bill, same as the old bill (but with fewer tax cuts, more spending and a bigger bailout) https://t.co/XKysr6Yyo2
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 12, 2017
Americans For Tax Reform is urging lawmakers to repeal all Obamacare taxes, which means a number of them are in the new version of the bill.
"All Obamacare taxes should be repealed. The Trump tax reform plan, the House health bill, and the original Senate health bill abolished the Obamacare 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax. Given the most recent language leaves some of the taxes in place, it is important for Senate Leadership to make it clear that those taxes will be abolished in tax reform this year," ATR President Grover Norquist released in a statement.
Meanwhile, previously opposed Texas Senator Ted Cruz on board with the new version released today, while Senator Susan Collins is still a no vote.