- Joined
- Jun 20, 2008
- Messages
- 106,859
- Reaction score
- 98,914
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act but would not have provided a replacement, signaling that the “clean repeal” bill that conservatives have embraced cannot get through Congress.
Continue reading the main story
The vote, 45-55, underscored the bind that Republican leaders have found themselves in. Seven Republicans voted against the measure — Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada, John McCain of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — showing that repealing the health law without an immediate replacement lacks crucial support among Republicans.
But a more comprehensive measure that would have repealed major parts of the law with a ready replacement also came up short on Tuesday night.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/us/politics/health-care-senate-vote.html
At this point the only conceivable reason for Republicans to continue pushing for repeal and a bill that harms their own constituencies and enjoys a whopping 17% approval is to appease Trump. However, it's time for Republicans to concede that they don't have ideas for how to improve healthcare. They've conceded the debate by demonstrating that their best idea is actually Obamacare, but less of it, a lot crappier, and in a way that spikes premiums and kicks millions of people off of insurance. And of course massive cuts to medicaid for reasons that I'm sure Voldemort could explain if given the opportunity.
It's important to remember that Trump is a man who has expressed precisely zero curiosity in how healthcare as a whole works, has never known any of the details of the various bills, and he seems to have believed that health insurance was life insurance this entire time. In all this time he hasn't even bothered to learn how to fake talking about healthcare. Therefore I have a proposal to Republicans in congress: leave the Capital and cross the street to an Outback Steakhouse. Grab a menu. Return to your office in the Capital and print out the menu on nice Congressional stock paper. When Congress is in session, replace the BCRA with the menu when McConnell isn't looking. Vote on the "bill" and pass it, then give it to Trump so he can sign it and claim victory. We liberals will pretend to be mortified and outraged because, let's be honest here, that's all Republicans really care about anyway.
EVERYBODY WINS.