McCain's Vote Shocker Gives Thumbs-Down to
"Skinny" Obamacare Repeal and Replace. After an
action-packed week of back-room wrangling, presidential jawboning
and dramatic speechifying, and cliff-hanger votes, Congress appears
to have finally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, leaving
the "beleaguered" Affordable Care Act (ACA) standing once
again. In the end, it was a shocking conclusion to a roller coaster
week. Whereas last Friday we reported the all-but-certain death of
the Senate's ACA repeal-and-replace effort, such effort
received a life-saving blood transfusion on Tuesday in the form of
a Senate vote to proceed (51 to 50, with ailing Senator McCain and
Vice President Pence casting the deciding votes) to open debate on
one or more versions of the pending bill. The vote to proceed
represented a major achievement for President Trump and the
Republican-controlled Congress, who have struggled since February
to get traction on a bill. Following Tuesday's vote,
