John McCain Slams GOP’s ‘False Premise’ of Repealing Obamacare

Photo Credit: AP/Susan WalshInfuriated that the government shutdown has delayed the payment of death benefits to the families of fallen American soldiers, Sen. John McCain railed against the “false premise” offered by some of his fellow Republicans that it is possible to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“To somehow think that we were going to repeal Obamacare, which would have required 67 Republican votes [in the Senate] was a false premise, and I think we did the American people a great disservice by convincing them somehow we could,” McCain, R-Ariz., said. “We started out with a false premise on this side of the aisle.”

The 67-vote margin is what Senate Republicans would need to overturn a presidential veto of any measure that delayed or derailed Obamacare — an unlikely achievement given that Democrats run the Senate and White House and Republicans hold just 46 of the Senate’s 100 seats.

McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, passionately criticized Congress for its failure to negotiate a compromise that would end a government shutdown that on Tuesday was entering its second week.

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