--- title: Health Care: Republicans Want the Senate to Return to Normal description: A number of Republican senators said they would like to see the upper chamber return to normal. canonical: https://time.com/4877348/health-care-senate-norms-republicans/ author: Jack Brewster article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-28T02:29:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:46:15.373Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Want the Senate to Return to Normal og:description: After the health care vote. og:url: https://time.com/4877348/health-care-senate-norms-republicans/ 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: Republicans Want the Senate to Return to Normal twitter:description: After the health care vote. 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 ---  # Republicans Want the Senate to Return to Normal After Health Care > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 28, 2017 2:29 AM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to his office on July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to his office on July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Jack Brewster](https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/) ## Jack Brewster Jul 28, 2017 2:29 AM UTC As the highly unusual process of passing a bill to [repeal the Affordable Care Act](http://time.com/4875870/governors-letter-skinny-repeal-obamacare/?xid=homepage) drew to a close Thursday, a number of Republican senators said they would like to see the upper chamber return to normal. After a process that included [skipping the usual public hearings](http://time.com/4825313/health-care-bill-history/), beginning debate without a final bill and sending a bill to the House hoping it won’t pass, senators said they want to return to the usual process of passing legislation. “I’ve always been in favor of regular order as much as we can possibly achieve,” said Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho. “I like regular order, because you do have some certainty and predictability to a certain extent–if you can use those terms in the Senate,” added Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. Shelby and Crapo were echoing [Sen. John McCain ](http://time.com/4873455/john-mccain-health-care-vote-speech/)of Arizona, who, earlier this week decried the process that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used on the health care bill. McCain had just returned to the Senate after being diagnosed with brain cancer and undergoing surgery to remove a tumor. “Let’s trust each other. Let’s return to regular order,” said the one-time Republican presidential nominee on the Senate floor. “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.” On Thursday, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin also said he wants to restore Senate norms, noting that the upper chamber does follow standard practice “in most cases.” “I think we certainly are in regular order in my committee,” he said. “We try to find areas of agreement–that’s how you get things done.” But some also placed blame on the Democrats for disrupting the standard practice of the Senate. Crapo added that the partisan maneuvering is sometimes the only way to get past the “obstruction” of Democrats. “We still need to enact critical legislation and move forward in government,” he said. And Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that the GOP would “absolutely” pass bills this way in the future. “We’re not going to get any help from Democrats.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4877348/health-care-senate-norms-republicans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4877348/health-care-senate-norms-republicans/"},"headline":"Republicans Want the Senate to Return to Normal After Health Care","datePublished":"2017-07-28T02:29:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:46:15.373Z","description":"A number of Republican senators said they would like to see the upper chamber return to normal.","url":"https://time.com/4877348/health-care-senate-norms-republicans/","keywords":["Congress","Health Care","Obamacare","Affordable Care Act","John McCain"],"thumbnailUrl":"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=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Brewster","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-brewster/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"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=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill","caption":"Senators Debate Health Care Bill On Capitol Hill","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4877348/health-care-senate-norms-republicans/","name":"Republicans Want the Senate to Return to Normal After Health Care"}}]}] ```