A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me what I thought of the chances of the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal bill. I told him it almost surely would not be passed. Today, senator McCain made clear that the bill would not pass when he announced that he could not vote for it because it had not yet been scored by the CBO.
Let's be clear about two things:
1. Getting all the Republican senators on board for the bill wasn't going to happen.
2. McCain refusing to vote for the bill absent a CBO score is infuriating. McCain knows that the CBO has no idea how states would implement their new powers under the bill, but the CBO nevertheless would put out detailed projections as to the effect of those unknown implementation measures. In other words, McCain knows that the CBO projections on the bill would be nothing but uneducated guesses. For McCain to refuse on that basis is silly at best.
The key moving forward is not Obamacare, however. It is tax reform. The GOP better get to work on that bill and get it passed by Thanksgiving. It can be done is some of the prima donnas in the senate can keep their tiaras on straight.
Let's be clear about two things:
1. Getting all the Republican senators on board for the bill wasn't going to happen.
2. McCain refusing to vote for the bill absent a CBO score is infuriating. McCain knows that the CBO has no idea how states would implement their new powers under the bill, but the CBO nevertheless would put out detailed projections as to the effect of those unknown implementation measures. In other words, McCain knows that the CBO projections on the bill would be nothing but uneducated guesses. For McCain to refuse on that basis is silly at best.
The key moving forward is not Obamacare, however. It is tax reform. The GOP better get to work on that bill and get it passed by Thanksgiving. It can be done is some of the prima donnas in the senate can keep their tiaras on straight.
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