Dems Taunt GOP with 'Nah Nah Nah' on Trumpcare as Senate Prospects Seem Slim

Now that the American Health Care Act has won approval in the U.S. House of Representatives, what are its chances in the U.S. Senate?
    
Republicans there say they'll come up with their own plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

President Trump praised House Speaker Paul Ryan at a White House Rose Garden gathering for finally pushing the bill through Congress. 

Ryan said the health care victory in the House was a big step, but he acknowledged the tough road ahead. 

"We still have a lot of work to do to get this signed into law and I know that our friends over in the Senate are eager to get to work," he said.

Perhaps they're eager to get to work on health care in the Senate, but they're not so excited about the House health care bill. 

The legislation rolls back an expansion of Medicaid mandated by Obamacare and that concerns some senators. Among them is Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who said he doesn't support the bill in its current form.

"I continue to have concerns that this bill does not do enough to protect Ohio's Medicaid expansion population, he said. "Especially those who are receiving treatment for heroin and prescription drug abuse."

Portman is concerned because 11 percent of the country's heroin deaths occur in Ohio.

The Medicaid expansion rollback provision is just one reason Portman and other Republicans in the Senate want to draft their own health care bill.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed concerns about the way the bill was brought to a vote in the House. 

Graham tweeted that the House bill "Has not been scored, amendments not allowed, and 3 hours of final debate--should be viewed with caution."

House Democrats think all those concerns about the new "Trumpcare" bill will be a winning issue they can use to defeat Republicans in the 2018 elections.

After the bill's passage, they taunted GOP members en masse, chanting, "Nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye."

While the final vote in the House was close, 217-213, President Trump praised Republicans for coming together to get the health care bill approved.

"As much as we have come up with a really incredible health care plan, this has brought the Republican Party together," the president said. "As far as I'm concerned your premiums are going to start to come down. We're going to get this past the Senate, I feel so confident."

Republican leaders and the president will need to work even harder to gain Senate approval. 

The legislation's laborious and painstaking process in the House, will likely prove even more troublesome before an incredulous U.S. Senate.