McCain Vote Puts Healthcare Bill On Life Support (Video & Polls)

With a simple thumbs down, Sen. John McCain dramatically ended Republicans’ seven-year campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

McCain, in the early hours of Friday morning, voted against his party’s scaled-back version of an Obamacare repeal, becoming the decisive vote preventing the GOP from succeeding on its top agenda item and throwing its legislative agenda into deep uncertainty. The Arizona Republican, along with Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, joined all Democrats in opposing the legislation gutting key portions of the ACA. All other Republicans voted for the repeal, which failed by a tally of 51-49.

A months-long effort by Senate Republicans to pass health legislation collapsed early Friday after GOP Senator John McCain joined two of his colleagues to block a stripped-down Obamacare repeal bill.

“I regret that our efforts were simply not enough, this time,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor after the vote. “This is clearly a disappointing moment.”

“It’s time to move on,” he added after pulling the bill from the floor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Health Care Freedom Act, known as the “skinny repeal” bill, failed to pass through the Senate.

The Health Care Freedom Act failed 49-51. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted against the bill. Sens. McCain and Murkowski pledged repeatedly to repeal Obamacare, whereas Sen. Collins consistently voted against any Obamacare repeal proposed by the Senate.

The Senate rejected a scaled-back ObamaCare repeal bill in the early hours of Friday in a shocking vote that marks a major defeat for GOP leaders and the seven-year effort to repeal the health law.

The Senate voted 49-51 against the “skinny” bill, which would have repealed ObamaCare’s individual and employer mandates and defunded Planned Parenthood.

The Senate Republicans’ push to dismantle Obamacare collapsed in dramatic fashion early Friday morning, when two centrist GOP women and Sen. John McCain of Arizona teamed to sink an already scaled-back effort to dismantle the 2010 health care law.

McCain and GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sidedwith all 48 Democrats to reject the Republicans’ so-called skinny repeal plan, tanking the measure by a vote of 49-51. The Senate GOP had already pretty much shunned the proposal, viewing it mostly as a route to go into negotiations with the House.