Photo by cacophonyx via Flickr / Creative Commons.
You should do what they say
by Tom Sullivan
Photo by cacophonyx via Flickr / Creative Commons.
Senate Democrats yesterday began issuing the call for supporters to take to the phones once again to stop the Republicans' last-gasp attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare with underfunded block grants. (The GOP loves them some block grants.)
This is happening. Drop what you are doing to start calling, start showing up, start descending on DC. Game on. https://t.co/WrNVAhXTcJ
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 17, 2017
This is real now. I'm alarmed. https://t.co/gMLfrFOCO4
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) September 17, 2017
The Hill reports:The fight to save heath care isn't over. Sound the alarm. We need you to fight today & every day until this @SenateGOP bill is dead.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 17, 2017
The measure, put forward by Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.), aims to give more power to states by converting ObamaCare funding for subsidies — which help people afford healthcare coverage and pay for Medicaid expansion — into a block grant to states.Don't discount the possibility that they might, writes Hullabaloo alum David Atkins:
While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has withheld full-throttled support by telling Cassidy and Graham find the necessary 51 votes on their own, Cassidy says leadership is asking the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to prioritize its analysis of the measure in an effort to get it to the floor.
September 30th is the deadline for any bill to be considered under reconciliation, which allows Republicans to pass budget-related legislation with only 50 votes. So action would need to come quickly, perhaps even before a full scoring by the CBO. Of course, the less the public knows about the legislation and the less actual analysis of its effects, the better for Republicans.Good advice. Just because they've failed so far doesn't mean under the right circumstances they might not get lucky. "The Affordable Care Act isn’t truly safe until the clock strikes midnight on October 1st," Atkins writes. Even a stopped clock, you know?
[...]
... Most analysts think the bill will die because Republicans are tired of working on healthcare and have too many other priorities to tackle in the waning days of September. But that’s precisely when the calendar becomes most dangerous.