Watch VideoRepublicans are huddling to push for another vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act ahead of a crucial deadline.A bill introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham is gaining support, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he'll bring it to a vote if 50 senators back it.
Keep in mind, Republicans are using a special tactic called budget reconciliation in order to pass repeal legislation. A regular bill needs 60 votes in the Senate to avoid being blocked by a filibuster. Reconciliation lets certain fiscally-oriented bills dodge filibusters and pass with only 51 votes.
If Senate Republicans can get to 50 votes, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the deciding vote.
That's what the party tried to do in previous repeal attempts. And since the GOP holds 52 seats in the Senate, reconciliation gives it room to pass bills on party lines.
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But that last effort died after Sen. John McCain became the third Republican to break ranks with a theatrical thumbs-down.
In regards to the new Graham-Cassidy bill, McCain is now a maybe. Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted with McCain against the last "skinny repeal" effort; neither has said one way or another how she feels about the new bill.
That decision wasn't so hard for Sen. Rand Paul, an ardent conservative who says this new repeal effort, like others, doesn't go far enough.
The biggest difference between this bill and previous ones is the idea of block grants.
Obamacare currently subsidizes insurance for lower-income households with federal money. The Graham-Cassidy bill replaces those subsidies by giving the states a set amount of money to spend on health care. It also ends the controversial individual mandate and rolls back a lot of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
If the Senate does cram in a vote this week, the bill would still have to make it through the House of Representatives unscathed.
And all this has to happen before Sept. 30, when the fiscal year and the GOP's chances of using reconciliation both expire.
That deadline was set by the Senate parliamentarian, or rule maker, according to Sen. Bernie Sanders, the ranking Democrat on the Senate budget committee. Reported by Newsy 6 hours ago.