Senate Republicans set to put Cassidy-Crapo health proposal up for a vote Thursday

Senate Republicans will offer a health care plan for a vote Thursday alongside a Democratic proposal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, capping off days of furious behind-the-scenes debates.

The decision announced Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader John Thune is a U-turn from just a day prior, when GOP leadership appeared likely to skip a vote on a Republican alternative to the Democrats’ proposal, which would continue the expiring subsidies for three years.

But that strategy sparked grumbling from various corners of the GOP conference, who believed they should put up their own plan to illustrate that their party has health care ideas, even if some Republican senators ultimately aren't supportive. The matter was discussed at a closed-door GOP policy lunch Tuesday.

Some corners of the conference were caught off guard by the expectation that there wouldn't be a vote, especially as Democrats hammer them over health care, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly about the reason for the shift.

Senate Republicans ultimately agreed to vote on a proposal from Sens. Mike Crapo of Idaho and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chair the Finance and HELP committees respectively. Their bill expands health savings accounts and includes funding for Americans to spend on health expenses but does not extend the Obamacare subsidies.

“Our members decided that we’re going to vote on a Crapo-Cassidy proposal,” Thune told reporters.

That fits in with a rough framework supported by President Donald Trump, who declined to commit to extending the subsidies in a Monday interview with POLITICO. “I want to give the money to the people, not to the insurance companies,” he said.

But a White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s thinking, said that there was not a preferred plan among the several currently floating around Capitol Hill.

Neither the Crapo-Cassidy plan nor the Democratic proposal will get the 60 votes needed to advance Thursday. And it's far from clear if the Republican proposal will win the backing of all 53 GOP senators.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has his own competing proposals, said he’s “still looking at” the Crapo-Cassidy bill, for instance.

Republicans have struggled perennially for years to unite around a health care plan. Thune acknowledged Tuesday that most, but potentially not all, of the conference would back the bill.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said some in her party “still have questions about implementation” of the Cassidy-Cassidy plan, though she said it was good Republicans were putting something forward.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday after the lunch that she was still reviewing the legislation.

“There are many good provisions in that plan that I think would be helpful to driving down health care costs,” Collins said.

Collins and Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) proposed a two-year extension of the expiring Affordable Care Act credits with new eligibility restrictions such as income caps and minimum premium payments. If the enhanced subsidies expire, the tax credits will revert back to their original, pre-Covid levels.

Other GOP senators could try to pass or set up votes this week on their own competing bills by seeking unanimous consent, according to their colleagues.

Cheyenne Haslett and Calen Razor contributed to this report.