For the next 21 minutes, the vice president cajoled McCain, Collins and Murkowski. Vice President,” he said, greeting Pence. McCain smiled, pointed at Collins and Murkowski, said something about “marching orders,” and stood up. Seeing that Flake was not making progress, Pence walked over at 12:44 a.m. That left Flake, one of the most polite members of the Senate, leaning into the conversation uncomfortably with a pained look on his face, as if he had to tell his father that he had run over the family dog with his car.
But McCain did not acknowledge Flake, focusing instead on Murkowski and Collins. He obliged, walked over to McCain and asked Graham to move over one seat. Eventually, Flake was dispatched to talk to McCain. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who counts GOP votes, and Pence. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who operates in McCain’s long shadow, stood next to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen. When Murkowski walked over to join the conversation, McCain winked and gave her a thumbs down - signaling his intentions.Ĭollins joined the group as another clutch of Republican senators formed in the well of the Senate Chamber. The South Carolinian mostly nodded as McCain gesticulated, and signaled - through his body language - that he was likely to vote no. Instead, he launched a last-ditch effort to win McCain’s support.Īs the first vote began, McCain took his seat next to Graham, his closest friend in the Senate. Vice President Mike Pence was already at the Capitol prepared to break a tie. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, already planning to vote against the plan, Republicans could not afford to lose McCain. McCain stood on the Republican side of the room nodding in agreement. “Let’s vote against skinny repeal,” Schumer told his colleagues before the votes as he once again derided the rushed nature of the health-care debate. The second vote was to pass “skinny repeal,” which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and rolled back a tax on medical devices. The first was on a Democratic proposal to refer the “skinny repeal” bill back to a committee. Two votes were called just after midnight. “I knew it when he walked on the floor,” Schumer later recounted, explaining that McCain had already called to share his plans.īut few, if any, of his Republican colleagues realized what was about to transpire. Schumer, D-N.Y., an exchange that left the New Yorker smiling. When he arrived, he held a brief conversation with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. McCain headed for the stage - the Senate floor - around midnight, emerging from his office in the Russell Senate Office Building for the subway ride to the U.S. “Have you decided how you’ll vote?” they asked. Two hours later, Ryan issued a statement signaling he would launch negotiations, and Graham and Johnson announced their support. Graham, R-S.C., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., wanted Ryan to launch broad House-Senate negotiations for a wider rollback of the law.
Ryan, R-Wis., assured GOP senators that the House would not move to quickly approve the bill in its current form. McCain warned at a hastily arranged news conference Thursday afternoon that he was leaning against supporting the legislation unless House Speaker Paul D.
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