U.S. Rep Louie Gohmert of Texas recently shared his thoughts on Sen. John McCain’s decision not to support Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, a decision many believe effectively dooms the legislation.
Gohmert told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Monday that McCain may be better off attending to his personal struggle with cancer in his home state of Arizona than the stressful rigors of Capitol Hill.
“God Bless John McCain. We know that the greatest inhibitor of overcoming cancer is stress,” Gohmert said. “Let him be recalled and go back to Arizona and deal successfully with overcoming the cancer so that we can get good health care for the rest of the country.”
“And let’s get somebody in here that will keep the word he gave last year,” Gohmert said.
McCain successfully killed a bill to repeal Obamacare earlier this year after campaigning on a promise to repeal it. On Friday, he announced his intentions to vote against a second effort to repeal Obamacare currently pending in the Senate.
McCain said Friday that he could not “in good conscience” support the most recent legislation, known as the Graham-Cassidy bill, because he doesn’t believe the Senate is following proper protocols for moving the legislation.
“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” he said, according to Time. “I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not really tried.
“Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will effect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it,” McCain said.
McCain joined Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in opposition to the bill. Paul said he will not support the Graham-Cassidy bill because it doesn’t go far enough in repealing the Obamacare disaster.
With no support from Democrats, the situation leaves Senate Republicans with just enough votes to pass the measure, with Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowiski of Alaska also leaning toward a no vote, Time reports.
Gohmert told Fox & friends that he thinks McCain’s alleged concerns with bipartisanship are misplaced.
“When he says he would like more bipartisanship, so would we,” Gohmert said. “But (Democrats) passed Obamacare without a single Republican vote, (former U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman) said we don’t want your support and we don’t need your input, so we don’t care.
“And so it is a very, very partisan issue by the Democrats not to support any effort to undo Obamacare – any part of it, even the very harmful parts,” he said. “So we would love to have Democrat support, but the problem is the Democratic Party has made it a point of saying we’re not helping you with any Obamacare repeal.”
Gohmert, of course, isn’t the only person calling out McCain for failing to keep his word to repeal Obamacare.
President Donald Trump told the “Rick & Bubba” radio show on Monday that McCain is “the only reason” the country is still stuck with former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
“You can call it what you want, but that’s the only reason we don’t have it, beause of John McCain,” Trump said of an Obamacare repeal, according to Politico. “Without John McCain, we already have the health care.”
Trump also called McCain’s announcement to vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill “a tremendous slap in the face to the Republican Party,” The Washington Post reports.
The president said Americans are justified in their rage against Congress’ seeming inability to kill Obama’s signature legislative achievement.
“They should be. It’s disgusting,” Trump said. “When I ran, I was told I’d have a bill on my desk. I’d sign it Day One.”
“Now when it matters because you have a president who’s actually going to sign it, they don’t do it,” Trump said. “And they pander, and they grandstand.”
The legislative reconciliation process allows the Senate to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare with 50 votes and avoid a Democratic filibuster until September 30, after which the high chamber will need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster or to start a new reconciliation process in 2018.
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