By the narrowest of margins, the US Senate failed to adopt a bill that would have begun the process of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Barack Obama’s signature overhaul of the health care system.
By a vote of 51-49, senators rejected what was called a “skinny repeal” bill, that would have only repealed a small portion of the ACA.
Republican leaders in the Senate had earlier failed to enact more sweeping repeal legislation, similar to what the House of Representatives passed in early May. The minimalist repeal measure was brought forward with the hopes that more substantive changes would be achieved in what is deemed a “conference committee” in which differences between bills passed in both chambers are reconciled. But, skittish senators sought reassurance from Speaker of the House Paul Ryan that the lower chamber would not pass the “skinny repeal” as it stood because the Congressional Budget Office predicted it would throw 30 million Americans off the health insurance rolls.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, recently diagnosed with brain cancer, flew back to Washington to support a vote to open debate on the health care legislation. That procedural vote passed on a 50-50 tie, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie.
After the vote, McCain called for efforts to enact a bipartisan solution. When Senate Republican leaders tried to ram through the “skinny repeal” with only Republican votes, McCain balked, joining Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins and all the chamber’s Democrats to defeat the bill.
Daughter of Charity Sr. Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association welcomed the failure to repeal the ACA.
“The Catholic Health Association (CHA) is pleased and relieved that we will now have an opportunity to work together in a bipartisan way to improve the ACA,” Keehan said in a statement after the vote. “Working together there are many ways that this landmark legislation can be much improved. While the ACA has accomplished many wonderful things, we all realise that there are improvements needed that would make it serve the American people and our economy so much better.”
The US bishops also called for a bipartisan solution to the impasse.
PICTURE: United States Senator John McCain (Republican of Arizona), one of several key Republican Senators, makes a statement as he announces he will not support the "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unless he has assurances from US House leaders that the bill will never become law, 27 July, Washington, USA
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