John McCain says he can’t vote for Republican plan to replace Obamacare

Republican senator’s stance will make it increasingly difficult for party leaders to get the votes they need to eliminate the Affordable Care Act

  • Read John McCain’s statement in full

John McCain said on Friday he could not “in good conscience” vote for the latest Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), dealing a potentially fatal blow to the plan.

Related: Republicans' new health bill would hit women hardest, experts say

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Last-gasp Republican effort to repeal Obamacare gains momentum

  • Chuck Schumer issues ‘red alert’ ahead of 30 September deadline
  • Senate plan would divert Medicaid funding and tax credits to states

A handful of Republican senators are attempting to revive the healthcare repeal effort that appeared all but dead and buried when Congress left Washington for the summer.

The last-gasp effort is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill as Republicans confront a narrowing window in which to dismantle Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) on a party-line vote.

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Sanders: Republican party has ‘no credibility’ on healthcare – video

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders slammed Republicans on Wednesday as he unveiled legislation that would expand the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly to all Americans. ‘To my Republican colleagues, please don’t lecture us on healthcare,’ Sanders said at an event on Capitol Hill. ‘You, the Republican Party, have no credibility on the issue of healthcare’

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Unpopular, unrealistic policies plague the Republican tax reform battle

Congressional Republicans returned to Washington from their August recess with a lot of things on their to-do list, chief among them Hurricane Harvey relief efforts and keeping the government running. But President Trump has also begun putting intense pressure on Republicans to take on tax reform.

Republicans must start the Tax Reform/Tax Cut legislation ASAP. Don't wait until the end of September. Needed now more than ever. Hurry!

— Donald J. T...

Trump’s vacation message to McConnell: ‘Get back to work’

Trump suggests Senate majority leader should step down if he continues to fail to advance president’s agenda, including healthcare and tax reform

Donald Trump has suggested that Mitch McConnell should step down if the Republican leader in the Senate does not successfully get the president’s agenda passed on Capitol Hill.

Speaking to reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is spending a working vacation, Trump was asked if McConnell should stand down. “I’l...

Bernie Sanders pushes universal health plan in wake of Republican repeal failure

  • Sanders to tout ‘Medicare for All’ proposal before unveiling bill next month
  • Vermont senator wants single-payer healthcare system for all Americans

Bernie Sanders has spent the first months of the new Congress defending Barack Obama’s health reforms as Republicans vowed to repeal them. But after the GOP’s seven-year drive to eliminate the Affordable Care Act collapsed on the Senate floor last week, Sanders is ready to introduce his own solution – government-run uni...

Republicans urge Trump to keep critical health subsidies for low-income people

Donald Trump has threatened to stop payments that help millions to afford insurance, amid frustration over his party’s failure to repeal Obamacare

Republicans lawmakers are urging Donald Trump to continue paying critical health insurance subsidies that help lower-income people afford it, amid growing concern that the president will follow through on his threat to cancel them.

Frustrated by his party’s failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Trump has dangled the possibility that he would stop the payments – a move that experts say would send insurance markets into turmoil and cause premiums to rise dramatically.

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‘Wait for the show’: How John McCain torpedoed the Republican health plan

There were gasps when McCain joined Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins in opposing the bill, ending Republicans’ latest effort to kill the health law

Minutes after the clock struck midnight, John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, strode into the basement of the US capitol. He was on his way to the Senate floor to cast a consequential vote, as the Republican effort to repeal Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act hung in the balance.

“Have you decided how you’ll vote?” a report...

Healthcare activists celebrate as Republican repeal bill collapses

After John McCain’s dramatic intervention in the early hours of Friday, protesters outside the Capitol hugged, cheered and shouted: ‘Yes we did!’

Protesters hugged and clapped outside the US Capitol in the first hours of Friday as the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed.

Related: Donald Trump says Obamacare will now implode. Is he right?

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