Comedian Jimmy Kimmel celebrated the demise of the so-called “Graham-Cassidy bill,” legislation designed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
“Officially now, Graham-Cassidy is dead,” Kimmel declared Tuesday evening on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”. “I haven’t been this happy about something being dead since [Osama] bin Laden, I’ll tell you.”
The Senate pulled a vote on the Graham-Cassidy effort after three Republicans said they opposed it, which combined with a unified Democratic block poised to against it would have been enough to keep it from passing. The move extinguishes the chances of passing the measure by a Sept. 30 deadline that would have allowed the GOP to avert a filibuster by the Democrats.
Kimmel offered a defense of one of the Republicans who opposed the legislation, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., after he was singled out by President Trump for not backing the measure. Trump tweeted a video highlighting various clips of McCain repeating “repeal and replace” Monday night, saying “A few of the many clips of John McCain talking about Repealing & Replacing O’Care. My oh my has he changed-complete turn from years of talk!”
“The idea that Donald Trump would criticize anyone for changing his position is very rich,” Kimmel said. “It’s definitely richer than he is. Donald Trump has more flip flops than a Jimmy Buffett concert. No one contradicts himself more. No one ever, in history.”
Kimmel then showed a video of showcasing instances where Trump has changed his position, including his opinion of his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and his stance on disclosing tax returns.
“His memory is shorter than his fingers,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel also offered advice for the GOP moving forward to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“Look, I’m not a congressman, I don’t want to tell you how to do your jobs, but here’s how to do your jobs,” Kimmel said. “Instead of writing a bill by candlelight on a Bazooka wrapper in the back of a Senate broom closet and then lying about what it will do, try this: hold a bunch of hearings.”
Proposed by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., the plan would have overhauled the Affordable Care Act and removed individual and employer mandates required by Obamacare. Additionally, the money currently being allocated to Obamacare’s exchanges and Medicaid expansion would have been given to the states through federal block grants.
As a result, senators who worked on the legislation said that states would have been able to address protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Kimmel, who has a son with a pre-existing health condition that required open heart surgery shortly after he was born, has panned Cassidy over the last week because he said the senator lied to him earlier in the year about his commitment to support legislation that guaranteed coverage for all families — something which Cassidy himself dubbed as the “Kimmel Test.”
