Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned that the Republican failure to pass a bill to repeal parts of Obamacare will disappoint Republican voters around the country who were told the GOP was going to dismantle the law.
“There are going to be a great many Americans who tonight feel a sense of betrayal, feel a sense of betrayal that politicians stood up and made a promise,” Cruz said early Friday morning.
“I tell you this, if you stand up and campaign and say we’re going to repeal Obamacare, and you vote for Obamacare, those are not consistent,” he said. “And the American people are entirely justified in saying, ‘any politician who told me that and voted the other way didn’t tell me the truth. They lied to me.'”
Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against a “skinny” repeal bill that many Republicans hoped could be a way to get into conference with House Republicans and write a more fleshed-out repeal bill.
But McCain, in particular, said he was worried the House would simply pass the same shell bill and send it to President Trump.
Cruz stopped short of saying McCain was a liar for failing to support the bill in the early morning hours Friday.
“That’s a judgment the voters of every state are going to have to make, for each and every individual politician,” he said.
Cruz also said he believed Congress would try yet again, despite the resounding failure of Republicans to find a way forward Friday morning. He said Democrats will praise the failed vote, but said Obamacare remains a “collapsing and failing law.”
