McCain vote stings Trump, effort to gut Obamacare ends in defeat
WASHINGTON: On Friday morning, as the US Senate Republicans looked on grim-faced, senator John McCain walked over to a clerk keeping a count of votes, and signalled a “No” with his thumb held down, bringing down a legislation moved by his party and backed by President Donald Trump to partly overhaul the current healthcare law.
The bill’s failure was a humiliating defeat for the Republican party, its Senate leadership and Trump, all of whom have campaigned against Barack Obama’s healthcare law—Obamacare— and called for its withdrawal.
The bill fell 49-51, with all Democrats and three Republicans voting against it. McCain’ s was the decisive vote, with Republicans already on the brink after two of their senators had let it be known they were a“No” on a scaleddown “skinny repeal” legislation that would have withdrawn a few provisions of the Act, but would have left the rest intact.
Vice president Mike Pence could be seen trying to talk McCain out of it, but the senator from Arizona, who was diagnosed with brain tumour last week, would not be persuaded.
Though McCain believed Obamacare should be repealed and replaced, he said that though the “so-called ‘skinny repeal’ … amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens”.