September 22, 2017

John McCain Won’t Vote for the GOP’s Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill

The Arizona senator’s opposition could mean the end of the repeal effort’s recent revival.

Ron Sachs/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would vote against the GOP’s latest bill to repeal Obamacare if it comes up for a vote next week. “I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” he said in a statement.

With McCain’s opposition, it’s unlikely that Republicans have enough votes to pass the last-ditch effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The GOP can only lose two Republican senators in a vote. In addition to McCain, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been highly critical of the bill and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said that she is leaning toward opposing the legislation.

While McCain provided the final vote to kill the Republicans’ last Obamacare repeal vote in July, his feelings were more in doubt this time around. McCain is famously besties with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the coauthors of the new GOP plan. The two have spent decades acting as though they were auditioning for a buddy comedy film about the Senate. With Graham reportedly pushing McCain to support the new legislation, it was unclear if McCain might change his mind. And just in case, Graham and the bill’s other authors appeared to be trying to correct for some of McCain’s previous complaints about a lack of regular order by scheduling a committee hearing for the new proposal for Monday.

In the end it seems McCain couldn’t be swayed. “As I have repeatedly stressed, health care reform legislation ought to be the product of regular order in the Senate,” McCain’s statement opens. He said that he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the content of the bill, but only if that was considered in a more deliberate manner—not just because of a looming deadline—and that he wants legislation crafted by working with Democrats.

So despite those close personal bonds, it turns out trying to deprive over 20 million people from health insurance can cause problems even in the strongest of relationships. Like many of us, though, the Trump-era has tested friendships and McCain noted the personal element to his decision. “I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition,” the statement says. “Far from it. The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate