September 22, 2017

John McCain Won’t Vote for the GOP’s Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill

The Arizona senator’s opposition could mean the end of the repeal effort’s recent revival.

Ron Sachs/ZUMA

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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would vote against the GOP’s latest bill to repeal Obamacare if it comes up for a vote next week. “I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” he said in a statement.

With McCain’s opposition, it’s unlikely that Republicans have enough votes to pass the last-ditch effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The GOP can only lose two Republican senators in a vote. In addition to McCain, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been highly critical of the bill and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said that she is leaning toward opposing the legislation.

While McCain provided the final vote to kill the Republicans’ last Obamacare repeal vote in July, his feelings were more in doubt this time around. McCain is famously besties with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the coauthors of the new GOP plan. The two have spent decades acting as though they were auditioning for a buddy comedy film about the Senate. With Graham reportedly pushing McCain to support the new legislation, it was unclear if McCain might change his mind. And just in case, Graham and the bill’s other authors appeared to be trying to correct for some of McCain’s previous complaints about a lack of regular order by scheduling a committee hearing for the new proposal for Monday.

In the end it seems McCain couldn’t be swayed. “As I have repeatedly stressed, health care reform legislation ought to be the product of regular order in the Senate,” McCain’s statement opens. He said that he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the content of the bill, but only if that was considered in a more deliberate manner—not just because of a looming deadline—and that he wants legislation crafted by working with Democrats.

So despite those close personal bonds, it turns out trying to deprive over 20 million people from health insurance can cause problems even in the strongest of relationships. Like many of us, though, the Trump-era has tested friendships and McCain noted the personal element to his decision. “I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition,” the statement says. “Far from it. The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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