USA Sen. John McCain's vote sinks Republican bill called 'Skinny Repeal' of Obamacare, in Senate

Last updated on 31-Jul-2017

The night John McCain killed the GOP’s health-care fight, https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/the-night-john-mccain-killed-the-gops-health-care-fight/2017/07/28/f5acce58-7361-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html, 28th July 2017

Ravi: Two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski had already stated that they were against the bill. So it would have been hoped by Republican leadership in the Senate that all the remaining 50 Republican senators would vote FOR the bill thereby leading to a tie of 50-50 in the 100 member Senate. That tie could be broken by vice-president Mike Pence voting FOR the bill thereby passing the bill in the Senate.

But Sen. John McCain joined the two abovementioned Republican senators to vote against the bill which got defeated 49 to 51!

Here is Senator John McCain's statement on it, copied from the Senator's Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/johnmccain/posts/10155620333448707, dated 28-Jul-2017.

The Senate's "skinny repeal" bill fell short because it fell short of our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare with meaningful reform.

From the beginning, I have believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that increases competition, lowers costs, and improves care for the American people. The so-called ‘skinny repeal’ amendment the Senate voted on today would not accomplish those goals. While the amendment would have repealed some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations, it offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens. The Speaker's statement that the House would be ‘willing’ to go to conference does not ease my concern that this shell of a bill could be taken up and passed at any time.

I’ve stated time and time again that one of the major failures of Obamacare was that it was rammed through Congress by Democrats on a strict-party line basis without a single Republican vote. We should not make the mistakes of the past that has led to Obamacare’s collapse, including in my home state of Arizona where premiums are skyrocketing and health care providers are fleeing the marketplace. We must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of aisle, heed the recommendations of nation’s governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people. We must do the hard work our citizens expect of us and deserve.
--- end Sen. McCain's statement ---

Some links to McCain's views mostly on this matter. The 25th July speech is a more general one.

John McCain gets standing ovation from Senate on return, votes aye on health care debate, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRdRJjMUNuM, 51 secs, published on 25th July 2017

McCain returns to Senate floor (full speech), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS8K90zFgUE, published on 25th July 2017 by CNN.

John McCain & Lindsey Graham Skinny Repeal is a Fraud Press Conference, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC2dMmPtPms, 17 min. 10 secs, published on 27th July 2017

McCain votes against ‘skinny repeal’ health-care bill, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VP4NVj2jUI, 41 secs, published by Washington Post on 28th July 2017

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Here's an article with detailed analysis along with supporting labelled pics of gestures and reactions in USA Senate as McCain cast his No vote, https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/back-and-to-the-left.
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These two videos show the process of the Senate vote on this matter:
1) Breaking News: Senate Voting Now on 'SKINNY REPEAL' Bill. #Breaking #ObamaCare, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFYEC3A0a9o, 13 min. 56 secs, published on 27-Jul-2017

2) GOP Obamacare Repeal Bill Fails In Dramatic Late Night Senate Vote, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MCLeDEylz8, 20 min. 45 secs published on 27-Jul-2017.

The first video starts with an earlier part of the vote but closes before the vote is declared. The second video starts with a later part of the vote but has the vote closure and later speeches as well.

The process, as shown by the above two videos, starts with names of senators being read out by the Senate staff giving the named senator a chance to say Aye or No. In between some senators who were absent when their name was read out signal their vote to the staff.

Then Senate staff read out the names of senators who voted in the affirmative followed by senators who voted in the negative. But this is not yet the final count as senators still come up and vote afterwards, with the staff reading out their name and their vote.

At around 8.00 in the second video above of the vote, the Senate president gives a last opportunity to members to change their vote and then says, "If not, the ayes are 49, the nays are 51. The motion is not agreed to. The amendment is not agreed to."
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How Schumer Held Democrats Together Through a Health Care Maelstrom, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/29/us/politics/chuck-schumer-new-york-senate.html, 29th July 2017

The above article also talks of meetings between Schumer and McCain. Schumer is reported to have assured support to McCain's bipartisan legislation efforts (to fix health care) if the health care repeal bill failed. And perhaps more importantly Schumer is reported to have promised Democrats' support for McCain's "beloved defense bill" if the health care repeal bill failed.

I think such deals behind the curtains are the reality of both USA and India democracies. I think those are the realities of power. One may question whether such behind the curtain deals are ethical especially from a strict ethical point of view, but I think that if elected representatives of powerful democratic bodies do not show willingness to make such deals and indulge in give-and-take, then they fail in governance which is what the people ultimately want.

I should also mention that I think Indian mainstream media reporting of such deals in Indian parliament is much lesser than USA media reporting of such deals in the USA Congress and White House.

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in USA elections.

[I thank USA Senator John McCain and have presumed that he will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from his Facebook pages on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]