--- title: Health Care: Republicans Will Vote for the Skinny Repeal description: Republican senators will vote for the so-called "skinny repeal" on the health care bill, but they don't want to see it signed into law. canonical: https://time.com/4877127/health-care-congress-skinny-repeal/ author: Jack Brewster article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-27T21:05:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:46:08.938Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Will Vote for the 'Skinny Repeal,' But They Don't Want It to Become Law og:description: Here's why. og:url: https://time.com/4877127/health-care-congress-skinny-repeal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bfef1a70e0092a1/6988d755bc6cfc87813e2679/senate-health-care-obamacare-repeal-rejected.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Will Vote for the 'Skinny Repeal,' But They Don't Want It to Become Law twitter:description: Here's why. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bfef1a70e0092a1/6988d755bc6cfc87813e2679/senate-health-care-obamacare-repeal-rejected.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Will Vote for the 'Skinny Repeal,' But They Don't Want It to Become Law. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7649ed54-aa5e-4599-a8e7-f142bfb791fc&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 27, 2017 9:05 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to his office on July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to his office on July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 27, 2017 9:05 PM UTC A number of Republican senators say that they will vote for the so-called [“skinny repeal”](http://time.com/4876315/obamacare-senate-skinny-repeal/) on the health care bill, but they don’t want to see it signed into law. As the upper chamber headed to the final hours of debate over the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared ready to put forward a dramatically scaled down version of the legislation. Several senators said Thursday they would support the move only to get to the next step in the process: a conference committee with House Republicans to hash out a more comprehensive repeal bill. “This is a mechanism to get to conference,” said Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. “This is not meant to be the final product.” They also said that the bill would not work on its own if signed into law. A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the “skinny repeal” would result in an additional 16 million Americans being uninsured in 2018. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday that he would vote in favor of the skinny repeal as a “vehicle to going to conference. As a final product it would be a disaster.” But this legislative gambit left some GOP senators worried about the possibility the House could simply pass the skinny bill on its own once it’s passed by the Senate. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi [said](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/27/obamacare-repeal-republicans-status-241025) “theoretically there’s no way” to prevent the House of Representatives from simply passing the bill. “I’m very worried about it and I would be worried about the product,” [added Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.](https://twitter.com/cam%5Fjoseph/status/890628402616651776?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F07%2F27%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fsenate-health-care-vote.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4877127/health-care-congress-skinny-repeal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4877127/health-care-congress-skinny-repeal/"},"headline":"Republicans Will Vote for the 'Skinny Repeal,' But They Don't Want It to Become Law. 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