This week, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee announced plans to hold a hearing on a new proposal to replace much of the Affordable Care Act (ACA): the Graham-Cassidy health care plan.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also announced it will hold a hearing on health care block grants, a key tenant of the Graham-Cassidy legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced his intention to bring the bill to the Senate floor next week.

The last Senate repeal effort tried to replace ACA subsidies with a system of means-based tax credits. By contrast, Graham-Cassidy would give block grants to states, which states could then use to design the health care system of their choice. The grants would still be based on federal poverty levels in each state.

In addition, the legislation would repeal the individual and employer mandates, impose per-capita caps on Medicaid, strengthen states’ ability to waive ACA regulations and allow individuals to increase contributions to health savings accounts. Finally, the legislation would repeal the medical device tax while leaving most other ACA taxes in place, including the “Cadillac” tax.

After failed attempts to repeal and replace the ACA earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Congress is racing in an attempt to pass major health care reform before a Sept. 30 deadline. The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that Sept. 30 is the last day Republicans in Congress can use the reconciliation process to pass major health reform with only 51 votes. After that, any reform legislation will require 60 votes to pass.

With the clock ticking, the Graham-Cassidy legislation is seen as the last chance for Republicans to pass major health reform legislation with only Republican votes.

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I” senior director of federal government affairs.