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Senate parliamentarian's ruling dims odds for new ACA repeal bill

Modern Healthcare: A brewing Senate Republican effort to pass a new bill repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act suffered a serious setback Friday when the Senate parliamentarian ruled that congressional authorization to pass such a bill with just 51 votes ends Sept. 30.

That means Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would face the tough task of rounding up at least 50 votes—plus Vice President Mike Pence's vote—before the end of this month to pass a repeal-and-replace bill, which they were unable to do in July. Then, Senate Republicans would have to reach agreement with House Republicans, who passed their own bill. The two chambers would have to pass identical bills by the end of the month.

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