Sen. John McCain sent a signal that he is not going to support the latest Republican effort to repeal Obamacare by announcing his support for the bipartisan ACA fixes being worked on in the Senate.
Video:
Transcript via CBS’ Face The Nation:
JOHN DICKERSON: One, the President is working on bipartisan approach, what do you make of that?
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: I’m interested in that, of course. We– this President is always full of surprises. But the problem is, John, it shouldn’t be bipartisanship. It should be both Republican, Democrat and the President. So, yes, he surprised the Republicans with the deal that he made with Chuck and Nancy– with Chuck and Nancy. What it should take place is the three of them, both leaders Republican and Democrat and the President sit down and say, okay, we got a problem here. We need to fix it. And that means that we can come up with all three of us in one solid proposal. Why did– why did Obamacare fail? Obamacare was ram through with Democrats votes only. Are we going to ram through our proposal with– with Democrats and the President? That’s not the way to do it. We got to go back, if I could just say again, the way to do this is have a bill, put it through the committee. We have Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander doing fine, bring it to the floor. Have debate, have amendments, we passed our bill twenty-seven to nothing for the Armed Services Committee.
McCain was sending a strong signal that nothing has changed with him. He believes, incorrectly, that Obamacare failed because it wasn’t done in a bipartisan way. Obamacare was done in a bipartisan way with Republicans taking part in all phases of legislative process and amendments being added to the bill, but his larger point is that he will not support a healthcare bill that Republicans jam through the Senate without following the legislative process.
Republicans are trying to jam Graham-Cassidy through the Senate before reconciliation expires at the end of September. What McCain wants to see is the bipartisan bill of ACA fixes that are being worked on by Sens. Alexander and Murray.
Anything outside of a bipartisan effort with bipartisan votes isn’t likely to get McCain’s support.
Time is running out on the Republican dream of taking health insurance away from tens of millions, and without McCain’s support, every Republican healthcare bill is doomed.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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