Sen. John McCain, who is battling brain cancer, will return to the U. S. Senate on Tuesday, the day of the health care vote, his office said.
The Senate plans to vote Tuesday to try to advance a sweeping rewrite of the nation’s health-care laws with the last-minute arrival of Sen. John McCain – but tough talk from President Donald Trump won no new public support from skeptical GOP senators for the flagging effort that all but collapsed last week.
In a bit of drama, McCain, R-Ariz., who announced last week he was diagnosed with brain cancer, said Monday night that he will return to the Capitol on Tuesday to vote on whether to start debate on the health-care bill. The senator had been recuperating from surgery in Arizona.
« Senator McCain looks forward to returning to the United States Senate tomorrow to continue working on important legislation, including health care reform, the National Defense Authorization Act, and new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, » McCain’s office said in a statement.
It is in unclear, however, if McCain’s return will improve Republicans’ prospects of passing a key procedural hurdle to move the health-care bill forward.
The news that McCain would return to Washington came after a day in which Presidejnt Trump took to publicly calling out Republicans in Congress for failing to achieve the rollback of the Affordable Care Act – something that both he and the GOP congressional majority have promised to do.
Speaking at a White House event on Monday night, Trump threateningly urged Senate Republicans to vote « yes » on a procedural motion that would allow a proposal regarding the nation’s health-care system to be debated on the Senate floor. However, exactly what legislation lawmakers would be debating remained unclear to many of them late Monday.
In a West Virginia speech before the National Boy Scout Jamboree, Trump sought to pressure Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., by saying, « You better get Senator Capito to vote for it, » referring to his health and human services secretary, Tom Price, who was with him. Trump also quipped that he would fire Price if he did not round up enough votes.
« As the Scout law says, a Scout is trustworthy, loyal – we could use some more loyalty, I can tell you that, » Trump said in a day that was filled with thinly veiled barbs at Republicans who have failed to advance the health-care revamp.
McCain’s dramatic return could inject some suspense into a procedural vote to open debate on the health-care legislation, which so far has failed to pick up strength – no matter which version is considered.
Revered on both sides of the aisle, the news that McCain has brain cancer cast a pall over the Capitol last week and his return is sure to provide a morale boost for colleagues in both parties.
But most immediately, McCain may provide a critical vote in support of beginning formal debate on the health-care bill. Republican leaders openly discussed the possibility of McCain’s return with reporters on Monday during an evening vote.
« I’m pretty confident we’ll get on the bill even without John, » Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the chamber’s lead GOP vote-counter, told reporters.
Sen. Susan Collin, R-Maine, said she spoke with McCain on Saturday and that her frequent collaborator was eager to get back to work.
« It is just extraordinary how upbeat he is and how accepting of his diagnosis – it was truly inspirational to talk with him, » she said. « I have a feeling that if there’s any way he can be back, he will be here – whether his doctors like it. It just reminds me of what an extraordinarily brave person he is. »
Without McCain, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could only have afforded one GOP defection. Multiple Republican senators have raised objections to each health-care proposal that has been offered, leaving McConnell and Trump in a very difficult spot.
« There is still time to do the right thing, » Trump said at the White House on Monday. He added a word of warning: « Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling Americans that you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare. »
Vice President Pence is also lobbying heavily for wary senators to pass a health-care overhaul and was spotted heading toward McConnell’s Capitol Hill office late Monday afternoon as votes were getting underway.
Some Republican senators expressed confidence in a newly emerging strategy of trying to pass smaller-scale changes to the Affordable Care Act, with an eye on trying to continue negotiations into the fall.
McConnell encouraged senators to vote Tuesday to open what he said would be a period of « robust debate » on health care. « I will vote ‘yes’ on the motion to proceed and I would urge all of our colleagues to do the same, » he said in a speech on the Senate floor.
But a flurry of problems remained for McConnell as he insisted on taking up the troubled legislation, which must receive 50 votes to be approved, with Pence ready to break a tie.
His plan is catching flak from all sides – ranging from moderate senators who disagree with the Medicaid cuts to conservatives who don’t believe the package goes far enough to repeal the ACA, which they have campaigned against for seven years.
After it became clear last week there weren’t sufficient votes for the Senate package to repeal and replace the ACA that McConnell negotiated, the majority leader said the Senate would instead move to a straight repeal bill like one they voted on in 2015.
But there was confusion Monday about exactly which direction senators would go on Tuesday when and if the voting starts. And none of the options that McConnell has presented had won enough public support to guarantee passage.
« What are we proceeding to? » Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a conservative critic of the effort, wondered aloud to reporters.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would not vote « yes » to move forward on any of the plans that have been floated so far.
One emerging idea late Monday was to scale down the scope of the proposals and instead find a narrower bill that every Senate Republican could support. That would set up a House-Senate conference to resolve the differences between the two proposals, buying Republicans more time to continue to try to find a broad bill that repeals and replaces the ACA.
Cornyn confirmed Monday evening that congressional leaders were now leaning against the original plan, if the Senate could approve legislation, to have the House immediately approve the Senate bill once it was approved in the upper chamber.
« Initially there was some thought maybe the House would take up the bill we passed, but that may not be the case. So what we need to do is make progress, » Cornyn told reporters.
That point – just « make progress » – was echoed by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who held a robust conversation with GOP leaders on the Senate floor during votes and explained that the aim is just to make sure some legislative proposal passes in a bid to keep the effort alive.
Officially, the Senate plans to vote on a motion to proceed to a House-passed repeal-and-replace bill. But from there, that measure could be amended in any number of ways.
In his remarks Monday, McConnell referred to the 2015 bill that passed with overwhelming GOP support but was vetoed by President Barack Obama.
