Washington: Senator John McCain was greeted by applause from both sides of the aisle on Tuesday as he walked onto the Senate floor, delivering Republicans the critical 50th vote to begin debate on an unknown plan to overhaul the health-care industry.

Then the Arizona Republican, done with the niceties, delivered a 15-minute excoriation of the modern Senate. A Senate riven by partisan infighting and almost no effort to work across the aisle. A Senate that has abandoned the principle that legislative committees had provenance of the process.

A Senate so broken that the only way to even begin a health-care debate was to drag an 80-year-old man, diagnosed last week with brain cancer, 3700 km across the nation from Phoenix to cast that critical vote.

"Let's trust each other. Let's return to regular order. We've 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," McCain told his colleagues, who gave him the floor for an unusual address usually reserved for a retiring senator. "We're getting nothing done, my friends. We're getting nothing done."

His mere presence gave Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, his biggest victory since the April confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, allowing debate on a still unformed legislative package designed to replace the Affordable Care Act. McConnell joined a long line of senators embracing McCain upon his arrival.

While McCain cast blame far and wide for the Senate's shrunken status, he left no hint of subtlety in singling out the GOP leader's secretive, zigzagging effort to draft the health-care bill.

"All we've managed to do is make more popular a policy that wasn't very popular when we started trying to get rid of it," McCain said, noting rising support for the 2010 ACA, or Obamacare.

"I voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments to be offered. I will not vote for this bill as it is today. It's a shell of a bill right now."

Despite this warning, McCain's vote on Tuesday helped enable the broken process on healthcare he came to the floor to decry. It allows McConnell to continue to circumvent the committee work and bipartisan negotiations McCain said represents the best of the Senate. A no vote would have forced leaders back to the drawing board. As it turned out, the 50-50 vote impasse broken by Vice President Mike Pence gave the go-ahead for the debate but was short lived. 

A few hours later, Republican leaders suffered a setback when their most comprehensive plan to replace former president Barack Obama's health law fell far short of the votes it needed in the first of many expected votes this week.

The Tuesday night tally needed to reach 60 votes to overcome a parliamentary objection. Instead it foundered 43-57. The fact that the comprehensive replacement plan came up well short of even 50 votes was an ominous sign for Republican leaders still seeking a formula to pass final healthcare legislation this week.

The failure ended the day on a sour note, hours after a more triumphant scene on the Senate floor.

There was nothing new about a defiant McCain. On July 12, two days before his surgery to remove a blood clot that led to the diagnosis of a brain tumour, McCain delivered a fiery speech with the same defiant themes - it was delivered to an almost empty chamber.

But Tuesday McCain wasn't just being McCain.

He spoke for more than 225 years of Senate history, trying to force his colleagues to break free of this era's political spell. No one quite knew where he would end, almost sounding as if he was about to announce his retirement.

This time, almost every senator sat in his or seat, hanging on every word. McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, twisted themselves sideways so that they could look directly at McCain, his left eye still deeply swollen from the surgery.

Both leaders grew visibly emotional at times, McConnell's face bright red.

Democrats applauded the call for bipartisan effort, prompting McCain to remind them that Democrats passed the ACA with only their votes eight years ago.

As Republicans cheered at those remarks, Schumer made a bowing gesture toward McCain, acknowledging the point.

"We're not getting much done apart," McCain told his colleagues. "I don't think any of us feels very proud of our incapacity. Merely preventing your political opponents from doing what they want isn't the most inspiring work. There's greater satisfaction in respecting our differences but not letting them prevent agreements."

Schumer's eyes glistened.

Whether McCain's words will have any lasting impact remains to be seen, and frankly, is not very likely. When McCain concluded, Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote and both sides marched out to partisan news conferences blaming one another for the gridlock in Washington.

Washington Post, New York Times