the national interest

‘I Haven’t Thought It Through,’ Admits Republican Senator Planning to Vote for Obamacare Rollback

Missouri senator Roy Blunt: Vote first, ask questions later. Photo: Allison Shelley/Getty Images

Republicans still have not settled on the text of the health-care proposal they plan to vote on by tomorrow. They have not even settled on whether the bill, which would eliminate the individual mandate, is something they want the House to vote on, or the prelude to negotiations on something different. (Some are saying the House will just pass the Senate bill; others insist it will lead to a conference and something different.)

Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, was asked which of the scenarios he expects to happen. “I haven’t thought it through,” he tells Alice Ollstein. Blunt is a member of the Senate leadership and, by his own account, he hasn’t figured out what his bill — that would increase insurance premiums by 20 percent and make coverage unaffordable for millions of people — would actually do. Maybe think about it for a couple days.

Anti-Obamacare Senator: ‘I Haven’t Thought It Through’