The Latest: McConnell praises new effort to repeal Obamacare

FILE - In this July 13, 2017, file photo, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, talk while walking to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Republicans are planning a final, uphill push to erase President Barack Obama's health care law. But Democrats and their allies are going all-out to stop the drive. The initial Republican effort crashed in July in the GOP-run Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after that defeat that he'd not revisit the issue without the votes to succeed. Graham and Cassidy are leading the new GOP charge and they'd transform much of Obama's law into block grants and let states decide how to spend the money. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) FILE - In this July 13, 2017, file photo, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, talk while walking to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Republicans are planning a final, uphill push to erase President Barack Obama's health care law. But Democrats and their allies are going all-out to stop the drive. The initial Republican effort crashed in July in the GOP-run Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after that defeat that he'd not revisit the issue without the votes to succeed. Graham and Cassidy are leading the new GOP charge and they'd transform much of Obama's law into block grants and let states decide how to spend the money. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

By Associated Press September 19, 2017 2 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the GOP effort to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law (all times local):

10:40 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is praising a last-ditch Republican bill to repeal and replace “Obamacare” – the latest sign the GOP’s repeal effort may be back from the dead.

McConnell calls the bill by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham “an intriguing idea, and one that has a great deal of support.”

The bill would undo major elements of Barack Obama’s health care law and send block grants to the states instead. The Senate must act on the bill by Sept. 30 – or face a certain Democratic filibuster.