It now looks like a vote on the Senate Health Care bill won’t happen until senators return from their upcoming July 4 recess.
Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who has criticized the bill, hosted a Facebook live town hall Tuesday night and fielded questions for an hour.
He says the hardest hit Montanans are those in their 50s and 60s, as well as the working poor.
“I think there will be a lot of arm twisting over the next few weeks trying to get people to vote for this bill. It does some pretty bad things,” Tester said. “It imposes an age tax on folks in their 50s and 60s. It cuts Medicaid for folks out there in the working poor and others and some 250,000 Montanans in total. The folks who drafted this bill in the darkest of night felt it was more important for senior to pay more of their income toward healthcare.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Steve Daines says he is reserving judgement of the bill until he hears from Montanans in his 17th tele-town-hall on Wednesday.
People can text “SenatorDaines” to 828282 to register for future calls or dial 877-558-4286 at 6:15 p.m. to be a part of this town hall telephone call.
Daines’s support is critical for the bill’s passage as four republican senators have already said they will not support the current bill. The GOP can only afford to lose two Republican votes.
Again, senate leaders expect a vote on the health care bill after they return from their July 4 recess.