Senate Republicans failed to pass a health care bill, failed to repeal Obamacare, and failed to pass even a “skinny” repeal that would have left part of the program in place.
Obamacare, unchanged, remains the law of the land.
From Alexander Bolton, McCain casts crucial vote to kill ‘skinny’ ObamaCare repeal | TheHill:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cast the crucial surprise vote that killed Senate Republicans’ last-resort ObamaCare repeal bill early Friday morning in a shocking moment that at least temporarily ended the GOP’s hopes of eliminating the former president’s signature law.
Voting shortly after midnight, McCain — who returned to the Senate on Tuesday after being diagnosed with brain cancer the week before — joined GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and all Democrats in opposing the measure that would have repealed key parts of ObamaCare.
McCain cast the no vote two days after a dramatic return to the Senate floor during which he called on his colleagues to work together on major issues, which has long been a Senate tradition until the upsurge of partisanship in recent years.
House Republicans appeared dumbfounded Friday as they digested the news that their Senate counterparts failed to deliver an Obamacare repeal plan across the finish line.
There are deep divisions within the House Republican Conference about what comes next.
Some say the ball is still in the Senate’s court for dealing with the 2010 health care law. Others suggest it’s time for bipartisan negotiations to fix Obamacare’s vulnerabilities. And still others said they have no idea what the next step should be, admitting that they’ve hit a dead end.
House Republicans discussed the situation Friday morning at a closed-door conference meeting and the mood was “somber,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, said afterward.
“I think we expected that the Senate would get something done and most of us expected to be here to deal with it,” said Cole, who added that he’s worried about the political implications for Republicans up for re-election in 2018.
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