--- title: Health Care: Democrats Appalled by Vote to Begin Debate description: Senate Democrats could do little to stop the GOP from pushing ahead to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they could voice their frustration. canonical: https://time.com/4872971/health-care-senate-vote-democrats/ author: Jack Brewster article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-25T18:36:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:43:33.508Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senate Democrats Appalled by Vote to Begin Debate on Health Care og:description: "I've never seen or read in the entire history of the United States anything as rushed as this." og:url: https://time.com/4872971/health-care-senate-vote-democrats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1aee35c6acef2e0/6988d71f196cf452180412c7/senate-demorat-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Senate Holds Procedural Vote On GOP Health Care Bill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senate Democrats Appalled by Vote to Begin Debate on Health Care twitter:description: "I've never seen or read in the entire history of the United States anything as rushed as this." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1aee35c6acef2e0/6988d71f196cf452180412c7/senate-demorat-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senate Democrats Appalled by Vote to Begin Debate on Health Care > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 25, 2017 6:36 PM UTC  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives at the U.S. Capitol July 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives at the U.S. Capitol July 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 25, 2017 6:36 PM UTC Senate Democrats could do little to stop the GOP from [pushing ahead](http://time.com/4872245/senate-gop-health-care-vote-mccain/?xid=homepage) to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they could voice their frustration. As the Senate voted Tuesday to [begin debate](http://time.com/4871746/health-care-senate-republicans-vote/), members of the Democratic minority were harshly criticizing the legislative maneuvers behind it. “I’ve never seen or read in the entire history of the United States anything as rushed as this that has such an impact on Americans,” said Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey. The vote is the culmination of a seven-year long push by the GOP to repeal President Obama’s signature achievement. Democratic lawmakers said that it’s currently unclear what the vote would lead to. “I don’t know,” added Booker on what he thinks about Senate Republicans’ latest effort. “I don’t know if they have a bill. I don’t know if they have the votes. But the nation is in peril.” The difficult path to passing a replacement bill may give Democrats hope. But as long as the [dismantling of Obamacare remains a possibility](http://time.com/4871630/donald-trump-repeal-replace-obamacare/?xid=homepage), they will be critical. “I think they’re making a terrible mistake,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii. “It’s going to rip health care from tens of millions of Americans and whichever version they vote on \[will trash\] the American health care system.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4872971/health-care-senate-vote-democrats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4872971/health-care-senate-vote-democrats/"},"headline":"Senate Democrats Appalled by Vote to Begin Debate on Health Care","datePublished":"2017-07-25T18:36:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:43:33.508Z","description":"Senate Democrats could do little to stop the GOP from pushing ahead to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they could voice their frustration.","url":"https://time.com/4872971/health-care-senate-vote-democrats/","keywords":["Congress","Health Care","Obamacare","Affordable Care Act"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1aee35c6acef2e0/6988d71f196cf452180412c7/senate-demorat-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Brewster","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1aee35c6acef2e0/6988d71f196cf452180412c7/senate-demorat-health-care.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Holds Procedural Vote On GOP Health Care Bill","caption":"Senate Holds Procedural Vote On GOP Health Care Bill","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4872971/health-care-senate-vote-democrats/","name":"Senate Democrats Appalled by Vote to Begin Debate on Health Care"}}]}] ```