The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
McConnell defers health care vote after McCain’s surgery
Arizona senator’s absence would have doomed measure.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell late Saturday put off plans to vote on a bill to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system next week, after Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced he would be at home recovering from surgery, leaving Republicans short of the votes they needed to advance the legislation.
McCain underwent surgery in Phoenix on Friday to remove a blood clot from above his left eye.
“On the advice of his doctors, Senator McCain will be recovering in Arizona next week,” said McCain spokeswoman Julie Tarallo.
A statement from the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix said the senator is resting at home “in good condition” and that “the surgery went very well.”
In a statement Saturday night, McConnell said that “while John is recovering, the Senate will continue our work on legislative items and nominations, and will defer consideration of the Better Care Act.”
Unless at least one of two Republican senators dropped their opposition to the bill, or a vote was postponed until McCain returned, the bill would not have had the support to proceed.
Two Republican senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine — have said they will not vote yes to even proceed to the bill. Along with all 48 senators in the Democratic caucus — and without McCain — their opposition would be enough to block the bill from proceeding to debate. There are 52 Republican senators.
Paul spokesman Sergio Gor said Saturday that he still planned to vote against proceeding to the bill. A Collins spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The announcement came after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma on Saturday made a pitch for the bill during a closed-door meeting of the bipartisan National Governors Association — and received what was reportedly a chilly reception.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, one of the bill’s most prominent Republican skeptics, said it’s unlikely they changed anyone’s mind.
“I am struggling to validate the numbers that are being presented to me by the administration, versus what I’m hearing from independent (experts), what I’ll likely hear from the (Congressional Budget Office), what I’m hearing from back home,” Sandoval said after the governors-only meeting.
Sandoval has expressed concerns about the legislation’s cuts to the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. His position is important because of the pressure he could place on Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, a possible swing vote.
With two GOP senators already opposed to the legislation, one more “no” vote would kill the bill outright in a Senate divided 52-48 between Republicans and Democrats. Sandoval said “Senator Heller’s his own man” but that he’s trying to give him the best information about how the legislation would affect their state.
“He’s the United States senator. At the end of the day, he’s the one who pushes the button,” Sandoval said. “I’m going to inform him about how I feel about the bill.”
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said the mood at the Saturday breakfast meeting was “tense” and “there are a lot of Republican governors who apparently have a neck problem, because they were all looking down.”