Thune: CLASS repeal dead on arrival in the Senate

Legislation to repeal the healthcare law's long-term-care program isn't going anywhere in the Senate, a top Republican acknowledged Tuesday.

House Republicans are expected to easily repeal the CLASS Act on Wednesday. But Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, told reporters the bill won't get the 60 votes it needs to pass in the Senate — if Democrats allow it to come up for a vote at all.

"I think we'd get a majority; I don't think we'd get 60," Thune said.

Still, Thune said, the House vote would create "momentum" in the Senate, where Democrats would be put on the spot. Republicans hope to embarrass Democrats by forcing them to support a voluntary payroll tax deduction program that the Obama administration itself has said is unsustainable.

Even getting a simple majority in the Senate would be a tall order. Republicans would need to persuade at least four Democrats to vote for repeal and break party unity, something they've failed to do in the House so far. Only four House Democrats — Reps. Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike Ross (Ark.), John Barrow (Ga.) and Ron Kind (Wis.) — voted for repeal when it came up in committee, and the first three had voted against the reform law in the first place.

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