MAC THE KNIFE
Another Cain mutiny on a GOP health bill
Sen. John McCain ( R-Ari z . ) seems to have signaled the end of yet another Republican effort to replace Obama-Care. He announced yesterday that he couldn’t back a bill that would give states more control.
Sen. John McCain on Friday dealt a potentially fatal blow to the GOP’s latest effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare — saying he could not support the bill because of the partisan and secretive way it was crafted.
“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” he said in a statement about the legislation written by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — a close friend — and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
The Arizona Republican — who also voted against the Senate’s previous effort — said he could not back the bill because it was not “the product of regular order in the Senate,” meaning it did not go through the usual process of committee hearings and public debate.
“That is the only way we might achieve bipartisan consensus on lasting reform, without which a policy that affects one-fifth of our economy and every single American family will be subject to reversal with every change of administration and congressional majority,” he added.
His decision means that the bill is one Republican vote away from crashing and burning — dealing a crushing political blow to President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell needs a vote before Sept. 30, the last date when the bill could be passed under existing budget rules with only 50 votes, allowing Vice President Mike Pence to cast the tiebreaker.
After those rules expire, the bill would need 60 votes to overcome a certain Democratic filibuster.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has said she would likely vote against the bill, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski — who like Collins and McCain also voted against the previous Senate bill — has not said how she will vote this time.
McCain condemned the rush to pass the bill.
“We should not be content to pass health-care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed ObamaCare through Congress in 2009,” he said.
McCain, who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer, said he hoped to continue working on health-care reform, and cited a bipartisan effort by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“I hope they will resume their work should this last attempt at a partisan solution fail,” he added.
Trump, hungry to fulfill a major campaign promise, pressured Republicans to vote for the measure.
On Friday morning, he tweeted a threat to Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who also opposed the bill.
“Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as ‘the Republican who saved ObamaCare,’ ” Trump wrote.
Paul replied that he would not be bullied and that “no one is more opposed to Obamacare than I am. The current bill isn’t repeal.”
Graham, meanwhile, was gracious in his response.
“My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he’s lived his life and the person he is,” Graham tweeted.
Trump was slightly less magnanimous, and said McCain’s opposition “was a totally unexpected thing . . . Terrible. Honestly, terrible.”
We should not be content to pass health-care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed ObamaCare through Congress in 2009. A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach. — Sen. John McCain