The record and voted on the motion to proceed. This would be the new healthcare bill. Trumpcare, if you will. Theres two no votes. Senator murkowski and senator Susan Collins of maine. Those are the two republican votes in the negative. There are two more republicans yet to vote. Senator ron johnson, the senior setter from wisconsin and senator mccain from arizona. John mccain is expected to be a yes vote. Senator ron johnson were not sure. Ive been told by our capitol hill producer, chad pergram, who is on the floor now, that senator johnson has been on the sidelines with senator mcconnell that leads the senate. Theyre having a discussion. Lets go to chad pergram who is on the floor now. What are we to make of this . Right now well have a 5050 tie with Vice President pence to cast the deciding ballot. John mccain came in just a couple moments to a standing ovation after his cancer surgery. He voted aye and ron johnson and the whip, john cornyn voted aye. Democrats that have held their powder dry here are casting their votes. What well have here if all democrats vote no, that will tie this at 5050. Vice president pence is presiding in the chamber right now. He would be poised to break the tie here on a 5150 vote. So far, mike pence has broken four ties already. One to confirm betsy devos as education secretary, he broke two in one day a couple months ago and significantly in his entire eight years as Vice President , joe biden was never called upon to break a tie. So they should get the votes to proceed here presuming Vice President pence does in fact break the tie in a few moments. Unless theres confusion, this is not the death of obamacare. This is a vote on a motion to proceed, which means in laymens terms, chad. This is like back in the old days where you would have a brides hand in marriage and they would go to the father first. Thats a motion to proceed. You have to get permission. The senate agrees to go to debate or Something Like that. The key here, shep, theyre considering this build under budget reconciliation. Dont worry about that term so much. Know what it does, it shuts off filibusters. They were worried about the democrats keeping them from bringing the bill to the floor. It shuts off filibuster. Under a garden variety build, you need 60 yays. This lowers it to 51. And its not been democrats blocking this but members on their own side. They couldnt cook up 51 votes just to get on the bill. It looks like all they were able to do today with senators murkowski and collins voting no is to get 50 votes on the motion 0 to proceed. Theyre dancing on the head of a needle here and get Vice President pence to break the tie. Shepard in the next couple weeks, debates will be offered. Amendments can be offered by anyone and the republicans have to keep the 50 votes and the one from the Vice President to be able to not repeal obamacare because this would be a defunding of obamacare. Nevertheless, the structure would remain there. Obamacare as a law would in essence be dead. But to keep Shelly Moore Capito on board, its hard to come up with based on her public utterances thus far, its hard to imagine how they get her to a yes on the bill itself. Look at someone like dean heller from nevada. The republican senator. Probably one of the most embattled that faces a tough election. He voted for the motion to proceed. Mccain expressed reservations and would try to work to amend the bill. Senator mccain says he almost always votes yes on procedural motions. On the final product, thats the key. I want to point out something that is very important. Ill come back to the term budget reconciliation. What it does, it robs the senate of its basic glory, which is unlimited debate and unlimited amendment process. So once they get on the bill, they have 20 hours of raw debate. That means this will probably be settled one way or the other just this week. That doesnt count against actual voting time and things like that. So as soon as they get this vote complete and were told theres a request for senator mccain to speak on the floor as soon as this vote is complete, the clock on debate will start. Thats limited to 20 hours and amendmented are limited not to policy, it has to be fiscal. It cannot add to the deficit. You dont have the usual free wheeling unlimited debate, unlimited amendment process under reconciliation. This is the all way this gambet that republicans used to get this across the floor. I should note something from a historical standpoint, if you dont mind, shep, this is the same trick that democrats used in 2010 to pass the final version of obamacare. They lost unexpected the Massachusetts Senate seat and went down to 59 votes add had to go to 51. Shepard thanks, chad. For viewers just tuning in, were in the middle of an enormous news day. As you heard, john mccain will speak while in recovery from brain surgery, from surgery on a cancer on his brain. John mccain has made this triumphant return to the senate today to cast that final 50th vote. Without him, this would not have been possible. Hes flown in arizona for this purpose with the okay from his doctor. Were expecting him to speak up to 15 minutes. In the lower righthand corner, the president is about to hold an event in the rose garden. The president expected to comment on this matter. Make zero mistake, this is an enormous win for leader mcconnell here. This was something that just two days ago was flat dead. They did not have the votes in the Republican Party to even proceed, to pass the motion to proceed. Thats what theyve done today. Now ill that proceed to the rest of the process to get a bill to get 50 votes on. Whether that is possible remains to be seen. Its unlikely. Mitch mcconnells ability to wrangle votes is yet to come to fruition. Theres enormous news in washingt washington. For a third day, the president of the United States has taken aim at his own attorney general. Yesterday he was beleaguered. Now hes weak. The president s new communication director, scaramucci, said this morning that he believed that it was going to be necessary for sessions to go and then said he didnt want to speak for the president on this matter. It appears to be a cat and mouse game between the attorney general who was the president s first major supporter in the United States senate, first to endorse him. Now appears to have his job very much in jeopardy. Theres media reports that the attorney general is furious over this matter. Well see how this proceeds. Will he resign . His friends say no. Will the president fire him . We shall see. Right now Vice President pence speaking on the floor. The Vice President votes in the affirmative. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report the bill. Calendar number 120, hr 1628. An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title 2 of the concurrent resolution of the budget for fiscal year 2017. The senior senator from arizona is recognized. I thank you, mr. President. I stood here many times and addressed many presiding officers. Ive been so addressed when i sat in that chair. Thats as close as ill ever be to a presidency. Anyway [laughter] its an honor were indifferent too. In truth, presiding over the senate can be a nuisance, a bit of ceremonial bore and usually relegated to the more junior members of the majority. I stand here today looking a little worse for wear, im sure. Im have a refreshed appreciation for protocols and customs of this body and for the other 99 privileged souls that have been elected to this senate. Ive been a member of the United States senate for 30 years. I had another long if not as long career before i arrived here. Another profession that was profoundly rewarding and which i had experiences and friendships that i revere. Make no mistake, my service here is the most important job ive had in my life. Im so grateful, so grateful to the people of arizona for the privilege, for the honor of serving here and the opportunities it gives me to play a small role in the history of the country that i love. Ive known and admired men and women in the senate who played much more than a small role in our history. True statesman, giants of american politics. They come from both parties and from various backgrounds. Their ambitions were frequently in conflict, they held different views on the issues of the day and had serious disagreements on how best to serve the national interests. They now however sharp and heartfelt their disputes, however keen their ambitions, they had an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the senate discharged its Constitutional Responsibilities effectively. Our responsibilities are important, vitally important to the continued success of our republic. And our arcane rules and customs are intended to require broad cooperation to function well. The most revered members of this institution accepted the necessity of compromise in order to make incremental progress on solving americas problems and defend her from her adversaries. That principle mindset and the service of our predecessors who possessed it come to mind when i hear the senate referred to as the worlds greatest deliberative body. Im not sure we can claim that distinction with a straight face today. Im sure it wasnt all deserved in previous eras, either. Im sure theres been times when it was and i was privileged to witness some of those occasions. Our deliberations today, not just our debates, the exercise of all of our responsibilities, authorizing government policies, appropriating the funds to implement them, exercising our advice and consent rule are lively and interesting. They can be sincere in principle. Theres more of the time than at any time that i can remember. Our deliberations can still be important and useful, but i think we would all agree they havent been overburdened by greatness lately. Right now they arent producing much for the American People. Both sides have let this happen. Lets leave the history of who shot first to the historians. I suspect theyll find we all conspired in our decline either by deliberate actions or neglect. Weve all played some role it in. Certainly i have. Sometimes have let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes i made it harder to find Common Ground because of something harsh i said to a colleague. Sometimes i wanted to win more for the sake of winning than to achieve a contested policy. Incremental progress, compromises at each side criticized and also accept, just plain muddling away to keep our enemies from doing their worst isnt glamorous or exciting. Doesnt feel like a political triumph but its usually the most we can expect from our system of government. Operating in a country as diverse and quarrelsome and as free as ours. Considering the injustices but autocratic governments and how corruptible human nature can be, the liberty and justice that it preserves is a magnificent achievement. Our system doesnt depend on our nobility. It accounts for our imperfections and gives us an order to our individual strivings that has helped make ours the most powerful and Prosperous Society on earth. Its our responsibility to preserve that and even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than winning. Even when we must give a little to get a little. Even when critics on both sides denounce us for tomidity for our failure to try up triumph. Stop listening to the loud mouths on the radio and television and internet. To hell with them. [applause] they dont want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood. Lets trust each other. Lets return to regular order. Weve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. Thats an approach thats been im employed by both sides with out all the parliamentary rules it requires. Were getting none done, my friends. Were getting nothing done. All we have really done this year is confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court. Our healthcare insurance system is a mess. We all know it. Those that support obamacare and those that oppose it. Something has to be done. We republicans have looked for a way to end it and replace it with Something Else without paying a terrible political price. We havent found it yet. Im not sure we will. All we have managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasnt very popular when we started trying to get rid of it. I voted for the motion to proceed to allow a debate to continue on amendments we offered. I will not vote for this bill as it is today. Its a shell of a bill right now. We all know that. I have changes urged by my states governor that will have to be included to earn my support for final passage of any bill. I know many of you will have to see the bill changed substantially for you to support it. We tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration. Springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them that its better than nothing. Its better than nothing . Asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition. I dont think that will work in the end. Probably shouldnt. The administration and Congressional Democrats shouldnt have forced through Congress Without any opposition of support of social and economic change as massive as obamacare. And we shouldnt do the same with ours. Why dont we try the old way of legislating in the senate . The way our rules and customs encourage us to act. If this process ends in failure, which seems likely, lets return to regular order. Let the Health Education labor and Pensions Committee under chairman alexander and Ranking Member murray hold hearings. Try to report a bill out of committee with contributions from both sides. [applause] something that my dear friends on the other side of the allow didnt allow to happen nine years ago. [applause] lets see if we can past something that will be imperfect, full of compromises and not pleasing to partisans on either side. That might provide Workable Solutions to problems americans are struggling with today. Do we have to do to try to Work Together to find those solutions . Were not getting done much apart. I dont think any of us feels very proud of our incapacity. Merely preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isnt the most inspiring work. Theres greater satisfaction in respecting our differences, but not letting them prevent agreements that dont require abandonment of core principles, agreements made in good faith that help improve lives and protect the American People. The senate is capable of that. We know that. Weve seen it before. Ive seen it happen many times. The times when i was involved even in a modest way with working out a bipartisan response to a National Problem or threat are the proudest moments of my career and by far the most satisfying. This place is important. The work we do is important. Our strange rules and seemingly eccentric practices that slow our proceedings and insist on our cooperation are important. Our founders and vision, the senate has a more deliberative careful body that operates at another body from the passions of the hour. Were an important check on the powers of the executive. Our consent is necessary for the president to appoint juris and powerful government officials and in many respects to conduct foreign policy. Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the president s subordinates. Were his equal. As his responsibilities are onerous, so are ours. We play a vital road in shaping the judiciary, the military, the cabinet supporting foreign and domestic policies. Our obligations depend on Cooperation Among ourselves. The success of the senate is important to the continued success of america. This country, this big boisterous, brawl, beautiful, bountiful, brave, good and magnificent country needs us to help it thrive. That responsibility is more important than any of our personal interests or political affiliation. We are the servants of a great nation. A nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. More people have lived free and prosperous lives here than in any other nation. We have acquired unpreshe debted wealth and power because of our governing principles and our government defended those principles. America has made a greater contribution to any other nation to an International Order that is liberated more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have been the greatest example, the greatest supporter and the greatest defender of that order. We arent afraid. We dont covet other peoples land and wealth. We dont hide behind walls. We breach them. We are a blessing to humanity. What greater cause can we hope to serve than helping keep america the strongest, aspiring, beacon of liberty and defender of dignity of all human beings and their right to freedom and equal justice . That is the cause that binds us. So much more powerful and worthy than the small differences that divide us. What a great honor and extraordinary opportunity it is to serve in this body. Its a privilege to serve with all of you. I mean it. Many of you have reached out in the last few days with your concern and your prayers. It means a lot to me. It does. Ive had so many people say such nice things about me recently. I think some of you must have me confused with someone else. [laughter] i appreciate it though. Every word. Even if much of it isnt deserved. Ill be here for a few days. I hope managing the floor debate on the Defense Authorization bill, which im proud to say is again a product of bipartisan cooperation and trust among the members of the Senate Armed Services committee. After that, im going home for a while to treat my illness. I have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about me. I hope to impress upon you