Ron Johnson says it’s unlikely he’ll vote yes on health care next week

Sen. Ron Johnson said Wednesday that he doubts he’ll have the necessary information to vote yes next week on the Senate’s health care bill.

“I’ve told [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that] unless I have the input from my constituents, unless I’ve got the information I need to justify a yes vote, I won’t be voting yes,” Mr. Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said on CNN. He is part of the select group of Republican senators currently working on the legislation.

He also pushed back against claims that the process was secretive saying that due to the reconciliation process, the bill had to be passed by Republican votes.

“First of all, the decision was made to do it through reconciliation. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but that was the decision made, so you’ve got a bill that had to be crafted by Republicans. From that standpoint, it’s been a very open process within Republican conference. Somebody’s got to write a bill. Now leadership is going to write a bill,” Mr. Johnson explained.

He did say, however, that something needs to be passed soon to stabilize the markets, but that overall health care reform can be done over time.

“My suggestion was let’s break this into two parts,” Mr. Johnson said. “The minimum legislation we need to pass is to something to stabilize the markets that are collapsing because of Obamacare.”