House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) held a press conference Friday to celebrate the defeat of the "skinny" Obamacare repeal and praised the Senate Republicans who voted against it.
"It was a late night last night, but a victorious one for the American people," she said.
Pelosi sent her kudos to the three Republicans who sided with all 48 Democrats and Independents on voting down the bill.
"I want to thank Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate for their unity," Pelosi said. "I want to thank Senator McCain for establishing a higher level of participation as to how we should proceed."
Pelosi had words for Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine), John McCain (R., Ariz.), and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), the three Republicans who voted to halt the bill.
"Thank you for hearing the voices of the families," Pelosi said. "To the families and all the outside groups who weighed in, in offices, in town halls, on the phone, on the mall, outside the capitol: thank you for making your voices heard in such an important way."
Pelosi mentioned that the value of the Affordable Care Act was realized last night with this vote and said that the next steps would be to add updates and improvements to Obamacare instead of repealing it.
"We call upon the president to release the funds, the cost-savings reductions that are essential to having the law be effective," Pelosi said.