The Senate’s vote to proceed to debate on Republicans’ healthcare bill will be delayed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement late on Saturday.
The news comes after Republican Sen. John McCain’s office announced he will be recovering from surgery next week in Arizona after having a blood clot removed from above his left eye.
“While John is recovering, the Senate will continue our work on legislative items and nominations, and willdefer=”defer”consideration of the Better Care Act,” McConnell said in a statement.
The announcement had immediately thrown into question the fate of Senate Republicans’ Obamacare repeal vote.
Lawmakers had said they hoped to hold a procedural vote next week to begin debate on the contentious healthcare bill, but McCain’s absence would have complicated that plan.
In order to proceed, Republicans need 50 votes out of their 52-member Senate majority, with Vice President Mike Pence expected to break the tie.
Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, have already said they will not vote to proceed, making McCain’s “yes” vote essential.
McCain’s office said in the statement he is in “good spirits and recovering comfortably at home with his family. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona described the procedure as “minimally invasive” and said it went “very well.”
McCain’s office said in a statement he is in “good spirits and recovering comfortably at home with his family. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona described the procedure as “minimally invasive” and said it went “very well.”
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