Vote on Obamacare repeal
This afternoon the Senate is voting on Obamacare repeal:
After months of tedious deliberation, behind-the-scenes deal making and countless setbacks, Tuesday afternoon’s vote will determine if the Senate can start floor debate on legislation to overhaul the Affordable Care Act even though there aren’t any guarantees the votes are there to eventually pass it — and it’s unclear what a final bill will look like.
Several Republican holdouts have announced they will vote for the motion, bringing McConnell close to the 50 he needs to pass it.
Sens. Rand Paul, Dean Heller and Shelley Moore Capito say they will vote “yes.” Ohio Sen. Rob Portman will also back the motion, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Fifty votes will be needed to advance the bill, and with only 52 Republicans in the Senate — no Democrats willing to back Obamacare repeal — there is no margin for error. Vice President Mike Pence will be on Capitol Hill in case he needs to break a tie.
Adding to the drama: Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who has been away from Washington after surgery and a diagnosis of brain cancer, is flying back Tuesday for the vote.
People who are enraged at the Republicans for not having done this earlier (and they are legion) sometimes forget, or perhaps don’t care, how slim is the margin in the Senate. Even 52 makes for a majority, of course, and is important in terms of the leadership remaining in GOP hands. But it doesn’t leave room for error or a few RINO or Libertarian defections.
This bill is nice window dressing, and I think it’s necessary at this point. But it just kicks the can down the road. At the moment, I’d settle for it. They better not kick it so far down the road that they lose that majority, though.
A leading psychiatry group has told its members they should not feel bound by a longstanding rule against commenting publicly on the mental state of public figures – even the president. The statement, an email this month from the executive committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association to its 3,500 members, represents the first significant crack in the profession’s decades-old united front aimed at preventing experts from discussing the psychiatric aspects of politicians’ behavior. It will likely make many of its members feel more comfortable speaking openly about President Trump’s mental health.
Maybe somebody is actually going to do something, instead of talking about it and putting it into an EO.
Trum should pull a FDR, Wilson, and Andrew Jackson all rolled into one. It would be very popular, now that the preparations are done.
The two Republican Senators who voted against even debating the bill: Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
Neither are up for re-election in 2018, but I imagine this will come back to haunt them later.
Reid did a lot better job with the O care issue. His Mormon connections and his black mail list carried it through, especially those clever mechanisms that prevented the seating of those opposed to O care.
There’s a Latter Day Saint story about another Mormon who got thrashed about in almost the exact same fashion as Reid, usually as a consequence of betraying their divine covenants or getting in the way of an angry god.
Romney and Glenn Beck are seen as the Free Mason Mormon conspiracy guys. But they don’t mention the other secret.
In a 2001 interview he said, “I think it is much easier to be a good member of the Church and a Democrat than a good member of the Church and a Republican.” He went on to say that the Democrats’ emphasis on helping others, as opposed to what he considers Republican dogma to the contrary, is the reason he’s a Democrat.[87] He delivered a speech at Brigham Young University to about 4,000 students on October 9, 2007, in which he expressed his opinion that Democratic values mirror Mormon values.[88][89] Several Republican Mormons in Utah have contested his faith because of his politics, such as his statements that the church’s backing of California’s Proposition 8 wasted resources.
Neither are up for re-election in 2018, but I imagine this will come back to haunt them later.
They will only become even more powerful outside of DC than in side. Can’t stop evil.
This is slightly off the topic of Senate sausage making on health insurance, but I read this yesterday on American Thinker. A Mr. Hutson who was an executive in the old Blue Cross/Blue Shield system wrote an insightful article about 40 years of corporate motives and evolution in health insurance. The title is “Hidden Perspectives on Health Insurance.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/07/hidden_perspectives_on_health_insurance.html
“This bill is nice window dressing, and I think it’s necessary at this point. But it just kicks the can down the road.”</em – Neo
Sad that it even came to this.
Even this was more of a motion to proceed, if I understand it correctly, and, yet, that couldn't get passed.
“Medicaid is the Secret to Universal Healthcare”
If the Democrats were paying attention, the extent to which Medicaid was the key to defending the Affordable Care Act should be a glowing neon sign. As the party looks to fix real problems with the law, bolstering and expanding Medicaid should be a top priority….It also means taking a page from the Nevada Legislature and exploring ways to turn Medicaid into a de facto public option for people on the health care exchanges.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/medicaid_is_the_secret_to_universal_health_care.html
What no one, including Republicans, is saying what Medicaid is costing and how its going to be funded going forward. It’s a huge portion of the federal budget.
We need, at some point, to pay for our largesse.