McCain, in hero's return to Senate, calls for bipartisanship

Patrice Gainsbourg

Julho 29, 2017

Ação

"To hell with them!" the feisty Mr McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.

In a true 11th-hour victory for Republicans and opponents of Obamacare, the Senate decided today to open debate on at least one of several bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature legislation. And he warned his colleagues not to cave to the demands of the "bombastic loudmouths on the radio, and television, and the internet".

Those colleagues gave McCain not one but two standing ovations. His own support for the president's priorities didn't stop McCain from arguing that Congress shouldn't kowtow to Trump's wishes.

"He's tough as a boot, " said Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. "Most people live about 14 and a half months". But if the prospect-as laid out by some of the best available estimates-of 22 million Americans becoming uninsured and tens of thousands of those Americans dying thanks, in part, to his acquiescence troubled him, McCain didn't let it show.

The possibility of Mr McCain returning had been discussed around the Capitol on Monday, yet the announcement from his office late in the day came as a surprise.

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McCain himself campaigned heavily on the "Obamacare" repeal issue previous year as he won re-election to a sixth and nearly certainly final Senate term. Senator John McCain of Arizona has been diagnosed with brain cancer. And he reminded his colleagues of the awesome responsibility of the Senate, meant to be the more deliberative house of Congress, more removed from the turbulence of public debate than the House of Representatives is, and also an important check on the power of the president. "That's positive", said Senator Richard Burr.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Mr. McCain - Mr. McCain, aye.

He called on the Senate to make a renewed commitment to bipartisanship. "I don't think that is going to work in the end".

McCain's return was eerily reminiscent of a similar scenario involving McCain's good friend, the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy of MA, who returned to the Senate in July 2008 while battling brain cancer to vote on Medicare legislation, his dramatic entry in the chamber eliciting cheers and applause. "It's surprising he's been in the hospital this long".