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Grassley On Obamacare Repeal: We Don’t Want To Miss This Chance

AMY MAYER/IPR FILE PHOTO

Sen. Chuck Grassley says the replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act by House Republicans will have to be rewritten. Yesterday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released a report that found some 24 million people who currently have health insurance would not be covered by 2026 under the GOP proposal. 

"The House Budget Committee's going to have to go back to the drawing board and come up with something that’s going to be more realistic as far as I can tell," says Iowa's senior senator. "Maybe they can get the votes to go ahead, but in the United States Senate, if they don't do something in the House, it's going to be difficult to get that bill through the Senate."

The CBO report wasn't all bad news for the bill's supporters. It found the bill lowers taxes and insurance premiums over the next decade, and it lowers the deficit by $337-billion.

Grassley adds that congressional Republicans need to act because they may not get another chance. 

"As a person who feels some responsibility to deliver on the promises I make during the campaign, and if this is the only chance, then I think we don’t want to miss this chance," says Grassley.