In an interview published Sunday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) indicated that she has no problem being the vote in the Senate that kills the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“I only see it through the lens of a vulnerable population who needs help, who I care about very deeply,” Capito told Politico, referring to the possibility that she could help determine the Senate bill’s demise. “So that gives me strength. If I have to be that one person, I will be it.”
Capito opposes the Senate bill’s deep cuts to Medicaid and has said that a stand-alone provision providing more funding to fight opioid addiction would not win her support for the legislation.
She told Politico that she’s uncertain about the bill’s future when the Senate returns to Washington, D.C., this week.
“I think that remains to be seen,” Capito said on the chances for the bill’s success. “That’s the eye of the needle, and I think it’s being tried to be threaded. But I’m not sure.”
Capito also said that Republicans may have to work with Democrats if this effort fails.
“Collaborating with Democrats on the other side, to me, is not an exercise in futility,” she told Politico. “That may be where we end up, and so be it.”
