LIVE: The Senate healthcare debate moves into its third day

The Senate is in its third day of a debate to reshape the US healthcare system.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ended the day Wednesday by calling the healthcare debate a “sham,” pointing to the issue that it’s not clear what bill will ultimately be voted on. Schumer said Democrats won’t offer up any more amendments until they see the final product.

“We don’t even have a final bill to amend,” Schumer said.

The debate has begun to shift toward a “skinny repeal” bill, which would repeal certain aspects of the ACA. If passed, it could lead to the House and Senate working together to compromise on one final bill.

The debate began earlier Tuesday, and the Senate has 20 hours of legislative time to debate, and about 10 have been used in the first two days. The time’s split equally between Democrats and Republicans. Once that concludes, the Senate will then go into a “vote-a-rama” in which an unlimited number of amendments can be proposed to bed added onto the bill.

We’ll be updating this post as the debate continues.

5 p.m. – Senate votes on stability funding.

Senator Luther Strange of Alabama introduced an amendment that would change the stability funding in the Better Care Reconciliation Act to provide more premium assistance for low-income individuals.

Senators will also be voting on a sanctions amendment unrelated to healthcare.

3:00 p.m. – Senate votes down single-payer health plan.

The plan, proposed as an amendment to the House bill by Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, was called the Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act. It was overwhelmingly voted down, with the 57 voting “no” and many Democrats choosing to vote “present.” There wasn’t a single “yes” vote.

Before the vote, Sanders taunted Daines, saying that he’d be on board if the Republican senator could convince a few more members of his party to vote for the bill.

12 p.m. – Senator Bernie Sanders calls Daines amendment an ‘old political trick’.

During debate on Thursday, Sanders addressed the upcoming Daines amendment, which would introduce a “Medicare for All” healthcare plan.

“I hope that this is really a breakthrough,” Sanders said of the bill, which was introduced by Republican Senator Steve Daines. But, he said, he suspects it’s just an “old political trick” inserted a mid a serious debate about healthcare.

“I think this is not a time for political games,” Sanders said.

Sanders has been a proponent of “Medicare for All,” but isn’t buying into Daines’ plan to expose which members of the Democratic caucus might be in favor of a single-payer healthcare system.

10 a.m. – Debate opens for the day, with a vote on single-payer healthcare coming this afternoon.

The plan, introduced as an amendment to the House bill by Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, is titled the “Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act.”

The amendment would set up a universal healthcare system in which all Americans would be covered through Medicare, the federal government’s health program that currently covers all adults who are at least 65 years old.

But the vote, which is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, isn’t expected to pass. Daines doesn’t even support it. The intention is to try to expose which senators would vote in favor of a single-payer system.