US Senate delays summer break amid health-care impasse

This article is more than 12 months old

Jul 13, 2017 06:00 am

WASHINGTON: The US Senate will take the rare step of delaying its summer break by two weeks to focus on ending an impasse over health-care reform and other work, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday.

A day after getting a firm nudge from President Donald Trump to pass legislation that repeals and replaces the current law known as Obamacare, Mr McConnell blamed what he called a "lack of cooperation" from Democrats as he announced that the recess will be delayed till the third week of August.

"Once the Senate completes its work on health-care reform, we will turn to other important issues including the National Defense Authorization Act and the backlog of critical nominations that have been mindlessly stalled by Democrats," he said.

Democrats insisted that the issue was not about timing but substance.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill will remain unpopular if it continues to cut taxes on the wealthy and hurt the working class. - AFP.