Senate Votes To Move Forward With Debate On Obamacare Repeal Bill

The Senate narrowly voted today to move forward with its still-vague plan to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

The high-drama vote began just after 2:30 p.m., delayed a few minutes while the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms removed protesters shouting “Kill the bill; don’t kill us” and “Shame! Shame! Shame!” from the gallery. A New York Post reporter on the scene, Gabby Morrongiello, Tweeted that about 10 protesters were handcuffed and removed.

Morrongiello and Huffington Post reporter Jennifer Bendery both reported that reporters were being blocked from viewing the arrestsa and told that they could not take, and needed to delete, photos of the scene.

The vote began as an alphabetical roll call a few minutes later, during which time 47 of the Republican senators voted. Senators Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) voted “no” on the motion to proceed; 45 other Republican senators voted yes.

The remaining “yes” votes slowly came in over the next half-hour, with the “ayes” from Sens. Jeff Flake (AZ), Dan Sullivan (AK), Jim Inhofe (OK) dribbling in over the following 20 minutes, and the deciding votes from Sens. Ron Johnson (WI) and John McCain (AZ), who spoke to applause, landing right around 3:00.

After that, the Democratic senators all registered their “no” votes. Vice President Mike Pence will cast the 51st, tie-breaking vote shortly.

This story is still developing, stay tuned for updates…