Senate Democrats' plan to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies is headed for failure as the deadline to extend, or replace, them nears. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Only Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., split from their party to support Democrats' plan on an otherwise party line vote on Thursday, leaving the upper chamber without a solution to the fast-approaching deadline to either extend or replace the subsidies. Still, both sides of the aisle want to tackle rising healthcare costs, they just can’t agree on the best solution.
"We don't need to come up with the perfect plan," Hawley told Fox News Digital before the vote. "We need to say what will help right now to lower healthcare costs? That's a more achievable goal, and that's doable, so I am willing to vote for just about anything that has a legitimate shot at lowering healthcare costs right now. So that's where I'd start."
Senate Democrats’ plan, in comparison with Republicans’ offering that was blocked minutes before, was a straightforward three-year extension of the expiring enhanced subsidies.
"We don't need to come up with the perfect plan," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Democrats see the subsidies as a quick fix that can stop the bleeding, while Republicans are looking for broader, immediate reforms that could start putting a dent in healthcare costs.
Bipartisan talks have continued throughout the process, but those too are being hampered by the GOP’s red line on more stringent enforcement of anti-abortion measures on the Obamacare exchange, which is a nonstarter for Democrats.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., predicted that both Republicans’ and Democrats’ proposals would fail but that "hopefully, that keeps us working on getting something where we provide assistance, but get some reforms."
"But we can't keep just sending the money to insurance companies and continue this runaway medical inflation that just perpetuates the problem," Hoeven said.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-dems-obamacare-fix-fails-senate-looks-off-ramp-from-healthcare-cliff