Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care
Act (ACA) were dealt a stunning blow last week as several options to reform the
health care system failed to garner the votes necessary for passage. Senator
John McCain (Ariz.) joined with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins
(Maine) and all Democrats to defeat the so-called “skinny repeal” early Friday
morning.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought several
options to the Senate floor with the hopes that one could gain enough votes to
pass the chamber and potentially set up a conference with the House.
Ultimately, neither the Better Care Reconciliation Act, past attempts to repeal
and replace the 2010 health care law, nor the more recent Health Care Freedom
Act, also known as skinny repeal, could find the votes.
McCain was at the center of deliberations from the
beginning. The Senator announced he was diagnosed with brain cancer after
emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from above his eye. The surgery and
the diagnosis grounded McCain in Arizona, delaying the vote, after which
Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) and Mike Lee (Utah) announced opposition to the
Better Care Reconciliation Act, forcing McConnell to go back to the drawing
board.
McCain then made an unscheduled trip back to Washington in
order to open up debate on health care legislation, a move that made many
assume McConnell may have had enough support to pass a repeal and replace plan.
Republicans could only afford to lose one vote on the motion, as Collins and
Murkowski were firmly against any stated Republican options. McCain gave an
impassioned speech on the Senate floor urging the body to return to regular
order, but voted for the motion to proceed to the bill.
While McCain voted for previous iterations of repeal and
replace efforts over the course of debate on the bill, defections among other
Republicans meant that no single plan gained enough support to pass.
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