House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) blamed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Fox Business on Tuesday for tanking Obamacare repeal.
Ryan told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, “Republicans passed the biggest entitlement reform package ever when we passed our healthcare bill. Unfortunately, somebody did this instead of that in the Senate, and it didn’t pass.”
“We have to get our other partners in government to be willing to do the kind of entitlement reform that we’re willing to do in the House,” Ryan added.
House Republicans passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in 2017; however, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell failed to pass an Obamacare repeal package when Sen. McCain infamously voted against the “skinny” Obamacare repeal bill. Sen. McCain also opposed the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare block grant repeal proposal after the legislation nearly achieved a majority of support from Senate Republicans.
On Monday, President Donald Trump’s budget released calls for an Obamacare bill closely modeled after the Graham-Cassidy legislation to be passed “as soon as possible.”
“The president is committed to rescuing states, consumers and taxpayers from the failures of Obamacare, and supporting states as they transition to more sustainable healthcare programs that provide appropriate choices for their citizens,” the budget explains.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that giving up on Obamacare repeal could serve as the “biggest mistake we could make in 2018.”