Democratic lawmakers are continuing to keep the pressure on against the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill despite a perceived Friday victory after Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that he will oppose the legislation.
Mere minutes after McCain announced his opposition, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent out a “Dear Democratic Colleague” note to her caucus calling on them to continue to “highlight the devastating costs” the bill would inflict over the weekend at events in districts throughout the country.
Earlier in the week, Pelosi dubbed Saturday a “day of action” for members to protest and hold rallies and predicted an “all out mobilization” by House Democrats in the coming days.
“People will be on their own because this is really organic. It’s more than us. It’s about people calling their members of Congress to say this is what this means to me,” Pelosi said Wednesday at her weekly press conference. “There will be an inside-outside mobilization to defeat the bill … Nothing is more eloquent to them than the voices of their own constituents, and that’s who they’ll be hearing from.”
The bill is only one hard “no” vote away from defeat after McCain’s decision. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been a vocal opponent of the bill, saying that it would not repeal enough of the Affordable Care Act and leaves too much of its infrastructure in place.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is also expected to vote against the legislation, having also voted against the “skinny repeal” bill prior to the August recess. She said Friday that she is leaning against supporting the bill.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called on constituents against the legislation to keep calling and writing letters to their senators until Sept. 30, the deadline for Republicans to pass a healthcare bill with only 51 votes by using reconciliation.
McCain’s move was a massive sigh of relief to Senate Democrats, who had signaled the alarm earlier this past week after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced that they would support the bill, along with the White House.
It also comes two days after Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member, abandoned efforts to reach a bipartisan agreement to stabilize the health insurance exchanges under Obamacare.
