Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wants the Senate to move toward crafting a bipartisan health bill after the Senate GOP’s latest Republican-only effort appears to have failed.
McCain said in a statement that the GOP has to “return to regular order” to craft a healthcare bill by holding hearings and working with Democrats. His statement comes after Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., announced they oppose the Senates latest health bill, leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell without enough votes to advance it.
McCain has said that he would vote for a procedural motion to advance the bill, which partially repeals Obamacare, but stressed he would offer some amendments to help ease the effect of deep cuts to Medicaid.
Now he wants the Senate to move toward a more bipartisan approach to fix healthcare.
“One of the major problems with Obamacare is that it was written on a strictly party-line basis and driven through Congress without a single Republican vote,” he said in a statement. “As the law continues to crumble in Arizona and states across the country, we must not repeat the same mistakes that led to Obamacare’s failure.”
McCain has been recuperating from an emergency surgery this past weekend to remove a blood clot above his eye. McConnell announced he was delaying a planned healthcare vote this week because of McCain’s absence, further illustrating that he didn’t have enough support to advance the measure.
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, are also opposed to the bill, and Republicans can only afford two defections to pass it.
