Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
Plus unless he was conspiring with Collins and Murkowski, how could he definitively know he was going to be the 51st vote? They could easily have been bought off by McConnell, and if that happens the plan falls apart, and McCain almost certainly joins to make it 51-49 the other way. Plus there's always using the nuclear option later on to totally dismantle Obamacare rather than the skinny repeal. I'm glad McCain ####ed Trump over, but I seriously doubt he was running game here.
|
Edit: this was discussed earlier, but I think the emphasis at the end of this post requires the rehash to make the point.
The answer lies in the details of reconciliation.
McCain definitely knew the other two were no's and knew he'd be the deciding vote, or at an least insurance vote. He dropped hints for a week about it. He couldn't vote no on the motion to proceed, or it wouldn't have gone to an actual vote, which triggered the GOP actually using their one chance with reconciliation. You can only vote on one bill per year via reconciliation. By allowing it to go to vote, that meant that this "tool" of reconciliation is dead for the GOP until next year. They now need 60 votes and are forced to work with the Dems.
What McCain abhorred more than stripping healthcare from people (debatable whether he felt that was what was happening), was the extreme partisanship that was being used to craft the legislation. What he did, in the way he did it, meant that McConnell's method was voided and there would have to be bipartisan work to fix healthcare. That's why McConnell was so mad. His tricks are all used up and he now has literally no choice but to work through committees and hearings
which McCain has been demanding all along