Squeezed by his own party, powerful unions and voters in his own conservative district, Rep. Mike McMahon of Staten Island is the only city Democrat still holding out against his party’s health-care bill.
The freshman congressman’s position hasn’t budged since his first nay vote in November — and it is not going to change now even as Democrats press for the final votes, those close to McMahon said yesterday.
McMahon has said he opposes the proposed legislation for a variety of reasons — including the fact that there is no public hospital on the island.
The idea of government-mandated health care is also unpopular in his conservative district.
McMahon has managed to anger not only his own party, but also the Republicans, who counted on him to vote with them last week when they tried to block a maneuver to get health care through the House without a straight vote.