McCain: Senate Obamacare Repeal Bill ‘Probably Going To Be Dead’

UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 10: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks with reporters after the Senate luncheons in the Capitol, November 10, 2015. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Sunday said that the Senate Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare is likely to fail when the Senate returns from the July 4 recess this month.

“My view is it’s probably going to be dead,” McCain said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” adding the caveat that he has been wrong before. “I fear that it’s going to fail.”

McCain lamented that Republican leaders pushed to pass the legislation with only Republican votes.

“If you shut out the adversary or the opposite party, you’re going to end up the same way Obamacare did when they rammed it through with 60 votes. Only guess what? We don’t have 60 votes, John,” McCain told host John Dickerson.

If the bill fails, McCain said that Republicans should try to bring Democrats into the process.

“It doesn’t mean they — that they control it. It means they can have amendments considered. And even when they lose, then they’re part of the process. That’s what democracy is supposed to be all about,” the senator said.

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Notable Replies

  1. “…but no matter how crappy it is, I will definitely vote for it…”

  2. “…the same way Obamacare did when they rammed it through with 60 votes”.

    That’s right, folks. They RAMMED IT THROUGH with ONLY 60 votes out of 100! Everyone knows that for a bill to not be considered RAMMED THROUGH it needs to have far more than that!! Unless it’s a GOP bill, that is…

  3. Note that the Maveric isn’t taking fro granted that the new one will meet Reconnciliation. This is such a Rube Goldberg process that Josh’s near-forgotten observation that Senators are very reluctant to go out on limbs means that “tough”(in political parlance)Yes votes–not No votes–will be hard to come by.

    They likely won’t even bring it up.

  4. Avatar for zsak zsak says:

    Let’s hope the Bill really is the victim of a Death Panel.

  5. “And even when they lose, then they’re part of the process. That’s what democracy is supposed to be all about.”

    Correct. From McCain’s perspective, democracy is all about Dems losing. Hence this repeal bill.

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