McCain: GOP health bill likely ‘going to be dead’
Only way forward is bipartisanship, key senator says
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday that the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare is “probably going to be dead.”
Support for the bill has been eroding over the July Fourth recess, and McCain said on CBS’s
Face the Nation that he believes Republicans should work with Democrats to craft health care legislation.
That is a possibility floated last week by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said, “No action is not an alternative.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Sunday reiterated a push to simply repeal Obamacare, let the repeal take effect in a year or two and use that time to debate replacement. “I continue to believe we can get this done,” he said, also on Face the Nation.
Republicans need at least 51 votes to pass their repeal-and-replace proposal, and they haven’t been able to get there.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that he would support the proposal, saying “I think this bill is better than Obamacare.”
“Whether or not we can come together I don’t know,” Graham said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I would support the proposal before us, but you’ve got different camps in the Republican Party.”
Graham said that with insurers dropping out of exchanges and premiums soaring, the failure of Obamacare is inevitable.
“My advice is if it does fail, work together in a bipartisan fashion to replace it,” he said.
Support for the measure has been eroding over the July Fourth recess.