Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) said Thursday that he will return to the Senate on Oct. 16 following “recent treatment for urological issues.” President Donald Trump has incorrectly referred to the senator as “hospitalized” several times.
Trump blamed Cochran multiple times for not being in Washington to vote to repeal Obamacare in time to use the Senate’s reconciliation procedure, which would require a simple 50-vote majority to pass the legislation.
However, even with Cochran, three Republican senators had announced their opposition to the effort, ending any chance of its passage.
“I will return to the Senate on October 16 in order to continue work on the appropriations process and participate in upcoming debates on the budget and tax reform,” Cochran said in a statement.
NEW Stmt from @SenThadCochran says he will return to DC AFTER the Oct recess on October 16: pic.twitter.com/f6bY1LF8HJ
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 28, 2017
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that when Trump claimed to “have the votes” to pass the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal measure — even though he didn’t have the votes — he really meant that “we have the votes on the substance, but not necessarily on the process.”