McCain Announces Opposition To Obamacare Repeal Bill, Possibly Dooming It
By Susan Davis • Sep 22, 2017
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., seen on Capitol Hill on Monday, has announced his opposition to the latest GOP health care proposal.
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Originally published on September 22, 2017 4:58 pm
Sen. John McCain may, once again, be the savior of President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement.
The Arizona Republican announced in a statement on Friday that he opposes the latest GOP legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
"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 posted on his website.
McCain now joins Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as one of two Republican "no" votes on the bill. Republicans cannot lose any additional senators and still pass the legislation with 50 votes and Vice President Pence acting as the tiebreaker.
One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is McCain's closest friend in the Senate and said that friendship "is not based on how he votes but respect for how he's lived his life and the person he is." Graham also vowed to "press on" with his legislation.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement: "John McCain shows the same courage in Congress that he showed when he was a naval aviator. I have assured Senator McCain that as soon as repeal is off the table, we Democrats are intent on resuming the bipartisan process." An effort by GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who lead the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been put on hold since the Graham-Cassidy bill emerged.
The focus now shifts to two female GOP moderates, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who joined McCain in ending the last GOP repeal bill in July.
Collins is widely believed to be opposed to Graham-Cassidy, as she has voted against all previous versions of GOP repeal bills, but she has not yet made her position on this bill public. She has, however, criticized Graham-Cassidy and echoed McCain's calls for bipartisan efforts to address health care concerns. At an event in Portland, Maine, on Friday morning, she said she was "leaning against the bill," according to the Portland Press Herald.
Likewise, Murkowski voted against the previous GOP health care bills and has not yet declared her position. The Trump administration and GOP Senate leaders have been in ongoing negotiations to try to win her vote.
If one of the two senators announces opposition to the latest bill, it cannot pass the Senate. GOP leaders have said this is the last attempt they will make to repeal Obamacare ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline, when special budget rules expire that allow Republicans to pass a bill with just 50 votes.
The bill, authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, is the most far-reaching GOP proposal to date to undo Obamacare. The bill repeals key pillars of the law, such as the individual mandate; loosens its federal regulations, like those affecting pre-existing conditions; and fundamentally overhauls Medicaid, changing it from an open-ended federal guarantee to a program of capped funding directly to the states.
McCain said his opposition is based not on the substance of the bill but rather how it was put together. "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," he said.
McCain cast the decisive vote back in July that derailed an earlier version of the party's health care bill. His vote came just days after he was diagnosed with a severe form of brain cancer, for which he is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the National Institutes of Health.
Paul's opposition to the bill is based on the Kentucky Republican's belief that it does not truly repeal the Affordable Care Act. "I won't vote for Obamacare Lite that keeps 90% of the taxes & spending just so some people can claim credit for something that didn't happen," Paul tweeted on Friday. Under pressure from Trump and other Republicans to change his mind, Paul added, "I won't be bribed or bullied."
Can You Lose N.H.'s Republican Towns, and Still Win the Republican Primary? History Says Yes
By Dan Barrick & Rebecca Lavoie • Jan 11, 2016
Tracy Lee Carroll / NHPR
It's one of the most conventional nuggets of political wisdom: To win an election, first secure your base, then expand from there.
But recent New Hampshire political history shows that candidates can win their party's core towns, and still lose the election. It happened, in both parties' presidential primaries, in 2008.
On N.H. Primary Campaign Trail, McCain Remains the Standard
By Brady Carlson • Aug 3, 2015
Allegra Boverman / NHPR
Two microphones, a roomful of voters, and John McCain. It's one of the most iconic scenes in New Hampshire primary history, and one of which McCain himself is particularly proud, as he noted several times during a town hall meeting Saturday in Manchester.
The New N.H. Hospital CEO Once Worked There As a Nurse, Too
By Casey McDermott • Sep 22, 2017
Thomas Fearon
The Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services is preparing for a new role: CEO of New Hampshire Hospital. But it won't be Shibinette's first time working there.
One of her first jobs out of nursing school was as a charge nurse and relief shift supervisor, working primarily with geriatric patients at Thayer Building, part of the hospital campus.
In N.H., HHS Secretary Price Announces Funding for Mental Health and Opioid Services
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price made a quick trip to New Hampshire Thursday afternoon to announce $200 million in federal grants targeting community health centers, to increase access to mental health and opioid abuse services.
Sen. Shaheen To Co-Sponsor Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare For All' Bill
By Todd Bookman • Sep 13, 2017
Allegra Boverman for NHPR
Senator Jeanne Shaheen joined a growing list of Democrats who are co-sponsoring a national single-payer health insurance plan put forward by Vermont's Bernie Sanders.
The 2016 Presidential candidate has long championed universal health coverage, including efforts in his home state to pass a government-run program.
Sanders' latest national effort is garnering the support of at least fifteen Democratic Senators, though the bill stands little chance of passing in the GOP-controlled legislature.