The Senate Republicans’ push to cancel Obamacare collapsed in a dramatic fashion today when two centrist GOP women and Sen. John McCain of Arizona came together to destroy an already scaled-back effort to dismantle the 2010 health care law.
The democrats McCain and GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sidedwith all 48 Democrats  rejected the Republicans’ so-called skinny repeal plan, tanking the measure by a vote of 49-51. The Senate GOP had already pretty much shunned the proposal, viewing it mostly as a route to go into negotiations with the House. It was obvious that the drama began to unfold after midnight Friday, it appeared McCain had his mind made up and that he would be the pivotal third vote to kill off the GOP’s Obamacare repeal effort.
The vice President Mike Pence tried convincing him but the senator refused to change his mind. He said, 
”I do my job as a senator,” McCain said after he left the Senate chamber, saying he voted against the Obamacare repeal bill “because I thought it was the right vote.” He said he wouldn’t go through his thought process.Later, McCain issued a statement offering a more thorough explanation of his vote, saying that he has always believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that “increases competition, lowers costs and improves care for the American people.
“McCain said the “skinny repeal” that he voted down “would not accomplish those goals.” While it would repeal “some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations” McCain said it didn’t offer an adequate replacement. He called for committee work, hearings and bipartisan input in the weeks ahead, the same tone he’d taken when a different repeal and replace effort collapsed earlier this month. Speaking to reporters, McCain previewed what was to come shortly before he entered the chamber saying “Watch the show.” However it was great shock to his colleagues who audibly gasped when he voted “no” on the Obamacare repeal measure. “I don’t think we all knew until he actually did it,” said one of the senators.
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