--- title: Health Care Bill: Governors Blast Skinny Obamacare Repeal description: A bipartisan group of 10 governors have penned a letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Chuck Schumer blasting the "skinny repeal" canonical: https://time.com/4875870/governors-letter-skinny-repeal-obamacare/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-27T00:49:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:25:40.740Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bipartisan Governors Blast Republican-Led 'Skinny Repeal' of Obamacare og:description: They urged the Senate leaders to bring their parties together to compromise og:url: https://time.com/4875870/governors-letter-skinny-repeal-obamacare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bfef1a70e0092a1/6988d755bc6cfc87813e2679/senate-health-care-obamacare-repeal-rejected.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bipartisan Governors Blast Republican-Led 'Skinny Repeal' of Obamacare twitter:description: They urged the Senate leaders to bring their parties together to compromise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bfef1a70e0092a1/6988d755bc6cfc87813e2679/senate-health-care-obamacare-repeal-rejected.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bipartisan Group of Governors Blast Republican-Led 'Skinny Repeal' of Obamacare > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3d8e1135-3e89-428f-9841-c0d0f7251200&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: John McCain Returns To The Senate Floor Days After Brain Surgery [Watch (HLS stream): John McCain Returns To The Senate Floor Days After Brain Surgery](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sxCfWUfH.m3u8) (3:25)  _Published 2017-07-25. John McCain, in his return to the Senate chamber following a brain cancer diagnosis, vowed not to vote for the Republican health care bill in its current form._ by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jul 27, 2017 12:49 AM UTC John McCain, in his return to the Senate chamber following a brain cancer diagnosis, vowed not to vote for the Republican health care bill in its current form. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jul 27, 2017 12:49 AM UTC A bipartisan group of 10 governors have penned a letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, respectively — blasting the Republican-led [“skinny repeal” of Obamacare.](http://time.com/4875480/senate-obamacare-repeal-gop-plan-rejected/) The letter argues that the [American Health Care Act](http://time.com/4874094/trump-liberation-obamacare/) as it stands “still threatens coverage for millions of hardworking, middle class Americans,” and urges McConnell and Schumer to unite their parties and follow Sen. John McCain’s advice that he delivered Tuesday in his [return to Senate](http://time.com/4873455/john-mccain-health-care-vote-speech/) to “return to regular order.” A so-called “skinny repeal” would get rid of just a few aspects of Obamacare, including the individual mandate and certain taxes. Democratic governors who signed the letter included Colorado’s John Hickenlooper, Montana’s Steve Bullock, Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf, Louisiana’s John Bel Edwards and Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe, > [](https://twitter.com/TopherSpiro/status/890363491986571264) Republican governors included Nevada’s Brian Sandoval, Maryland’s Larry Hogan, Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, Ohio’s John Kasich and Vermont’s Phil Scott. ## Transcript Let's the leave the history of who shot first to the historians. I suspect they'll find we all conspired in our decline, either by deliberate actions or neglect. We've all played some role in it. Certainly I have. Sometimes I've let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes I've 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. Our system doesn't 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. It is our responsibility to preserve that, even when it requires us to do something less satisfying than winning. I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to co- operate. On our dependence on each other, to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loud mouths on the radio and television and the internet. To hell with them. [ APPLAUSE ] They don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood. 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. That's an approach that's been employed by both sides mandating legislation from the top down without any support from the other side, with all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires. We are getting nothing done, my friends. We are getting nothing done. Our health care insurance system is a mess. We all know it. Those who support Obama care and those who 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 haven't found it yet and I'm not sure we will. 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. I voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue on amendments we offered. I will not vote for this bill as it is today. It's a shell of a bill right now, we all know that. This country is big, boisterous, brawling, intemperate, restless, striving, daring, 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 It's 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 and it means a lot to me. It really does. I've had so many people say such nice things about me recently and I think some of you must have me confused with someone else. [ LAUGH ] I appreciate it though. 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