MCCAIN SAYSNO TOLATESTGOP HEALTHCAREBILL
Ariz. senator’s decision means GOP’s latest bid to kill Obamacare isn’t likely to succeed
Arizona Sen. John McCain said Friday that he will not support a last- gasp Republican effort to repeal Obamacare, making him the second Republican lawmaker to do so and casting significant doubt on the effort to repeal the health care law.
With Sen. Rand Paul, R- Ky., also opposed to the bill and Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine, saying she is “leaning no,” it appears Republicans do not have the 50 votes needed to pass the measure. Republicans can lose no more than two votes to pass a repeal.
“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham- Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried,” McCain said in a statement. “Nor could I support it without knowing how much it
“The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I.” Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz.
will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.”
To make a Sept. 30 deadline, Republican senators intended to bring the bill offered by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R- S. C., and Bill Cassidy, R- La., to the floor without the usual full analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Republicans, who have just a 52- 48 majority, are using a special budgetary procedure that allows them to pass legislation with a simple majority — and the vote of the vice president in the event of a tie — rather than the usual 60 votes. But that maneuver will expire at the end of the month.
The Graham- Cassidy legislation would get rid of the mandate that individuals have to buy insurance as well as the penalty for large employers that don’t offer reasonably priced insurance to their employees. But for the most part, the Obamacare taxes would stay in place and be redistributed to states in the form of block grants.
The bill would also end the-Medicaid expansion that 31 states and Washington, D. C., took advantage of under the Affordable Care Act and would overhaul the funding for traditional-Medicaid.
“I would consider supporting legislation similar to that offered by my friends Senators Graham and Cassidy were it the product of extensive hearings, debate and amendment. But that has not been the case,” McCain said.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York applauded-McCain’s decision. “John McCain shows the same courage in Congress that he showed when he was a naval aviator. I have assured Sen. McCain that as soon as repeal is off the table, we Democrats are intent on resuming the bipartisan process.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R- Tenn., and Patty Murray, D- Wash., had been leading an effort to draft a bill to shore up Obamacare insurance markets; Alexander pulled the plug on that effort Tuesday to clear the way for the Graham- Cassidy bill. Murray, the top Democrat on the committee, said she was ready to get back to bipartisan negotiations.
McCain’s “no” vote in July helped scuttle a narrow Obamacare repeal bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had offered. McCain’s chief complaint has been that the Republican- led effort to repeal Obamacare did not go through the Senate’s normal hearings, debate and amendment process.
Despite public pressure from President Trump, Paul has vigorously opposed the Graham- Cassidy bill because he feels it does not do enough to repeal Obamacare.
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether McCain’s announcement had changed the plan to hold a vote next week.