Arizona Senator John McCain announced his opposition to the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare.
His decision was crucial since his fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul already said he will vote no. Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are unlikely to support the bill. The Democrats are solid in opposition.
Given the situation, it appears that McCain once again killed the latest effort of his party to repeal Obamacare. In July, the Arizona Senator stood against his party and voted against the “skinny repeal” plan. He rejected it because it did not go through regular order—committee hearings, mark-ups, and debate to improve the bill.
At the time, McCain said, “I’ve stated time and time again that one of the major failures of Obamacare was that it was rammed through Congress by Democrats on a strict party-line basis without a single Republican vote. We should not make the mistakes of the past.”
McCain wants a bipartisan health care legislation
On Friday, the Arizona Senator reiterated his position. He wants a “health care reform legislation that is a product of regular order in the Senate.” He believes that it is the “only way to achieve a bipartisan consensus on lasting reform.”
