Louisiana’s two U.S. senators were among the Republicans who agreed to start debating legislation to undo the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
As The Associated Press reports, the votes today from Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy helped Republicans reach the 50 votes—with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tiebreaking vote— needed to move ahead with a weeklong debate and a long list of amendments.
Advocacy groups opposed to the health law rewrite had hoped to persuade Cassidy, a doctor, to help stall the effort.
In a statement, Cassidy described the vote as a “first step.”
“Nothing changes until the first step is taken. There will be many others,” he says. “But we must replace Obamacare with something which fulfils President Trump’s campaign pledges to maintain coverage, protect those with preexisting conditions, and lower premiums without mandates. Power needs to be returned to the patients and states,”
Kennedy called the current law a failure. In a statement, he described his vote as fulfilling a promise that he would “repeal Obamacare given the chance.”
