Axios: “They’re heavily concentrated in red states, and especially in the south.”
Republicans Ignore Trump’s Obamacare Taunts
“Senate Republicans have no plans to revive their party-line attempts to repeal Obamacare this summer, despite President Trump’s increasing frustration over the chamber’s failed attempts last week to gut the law,” Politico reports.
Said Sen. John Thune (R-SD): “Until somebody shows us a way to get that elusive 50th vote, I think it’s over. Maybe lightning will strike and something will come together but I’m not holding my breath.”
Zinke Said He Never Threatened Alaska Senators
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said it is “laughable” to suggest he threatened Alaska’s U.S. senators over a vote by one of them involving health care, the AP reports.
Said Zinke: “Ah, you know, the moon has been characterized as other things, too. So, I think it’s laughable.”
Hatch Says Senate Too Divided to Take Up Health Care
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) told Reuters “that senators for now are too divided to keep working on healthcare overhaul legislation and that he and other senior Republicans will take that message to the White House.”
President Donald Trump has been urging lawmakers not to drop the matter, despite a series of failed votes last week.
Said Hatch: “There’s just too much animosity and we’re too divided on healthcare.”
Democrats See Path to Single-Payer Health Care
NBC News: “As Republicans learned last week, making grand promises to the base on health care is easy — following through on them is not. For now, single-payer is little more than a slogan. Despite that, one thing is for sure, the issue is moving in only one direction for Democrats and it’s gaining steam quickly, including with recent converts in billionaires Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban.”
“Support for single-payer has jumped 19 percentage points among Democrats since 2014 — and nine points since January alone — to 52%, according to a Pew survey in June. With 85% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents now saying the federal government has a responsibility to make sure every American has health care, two-thirds of liberals favor single-payer as the means.”
White House Wants No Votes Until Health Bill Passes
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said that “yes,” it’s official White House policy that the Senate shouldn’t hold a vote on another issue — not even an imminent crisis like raising the debt ceiling— until the Senate votes again on health care, Politico reports.
Said Mulvaney: “You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years, and then not do it.”
What Three ‘No’ Votes Had In Common
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Majority Wants Congress to Move On from Health Care
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds a majority of Americans are ready to move on from healthcare reform at this point after the U.S. Senate’s effort to dismantle Obamacare failed .
“Nearly two-thirds of the country wants to either keep or modify the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, and a majority of Americans want Congress to turn its attention to other priorities.”
Obamacare Repeal Isn’t Dead Yet
Politico: “Trump, increasingly impatient with the long-stalled repeal effort, met with three Senate Republicans about a new plan to roll back the health care law on Friday, signaling some lawmakers — as well as the president — are not ready to ditch their seven-year campaign promise.”
“The group is trying to write legislation that could get 50 Republican votes… The proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) would block grant federal health care funding to the states and keep much of Obamacare’s tax regime… White House officials also met with House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) to brainstorm how to make the idea palatable to conservatives.”
Stan Collender: “The legislative effort on health care may be barely breathing, but it’s definitely still alive. Contrary to the common wisdom that developed after the Affordable Care Act repeal and replace effort failed last week, the Senate still has the opportunity if it wants to revive the debate and pass something.”
Trump May End Health Subsidy for Congress
David Nather: “The other part of President Trump’s tweet this morning that will get a lot of attention from members of Congress: he hinted he might overturn an Obama-era rule that allows members of Congress and their staffers to get subsidies for their health insurance, which they have to get through an Affordable Care Act health exchange. That’s what he meant by ‘BAILOUTS for Members of Congress.'”
“The ACA requires members of Congress and their staffs to get health coverage through its exchanges, but it was never clear on whether they should get subsidies to pay for most of their premiums, the way employers pay for most of their workers’ health premiums. The Obama administration issued a rule that allowed them to get those subsidies — because if it hadn’t, members of Congress worried that talented staffers would leave rather than pay the full cost of the premiums.”
What’s Really Shocking Is the Health Bill Nearly Passed
Michael Grunwald: “Forty-nine Republican senators voted for legislation that many of them admitted was substantively flawed and procedurally absurd—legislation that only 17 percent of the public supported and every major medical interest group opposed; that had been shredded by a bipartisan coalition of governors, the Congressional Budget Office and their own hand-picked parliamentarian.”
“After Trump promised to expand coverage, lower costs and block any cuts to Medicaid, he almost got to sign a bill that the CBO warned would do exactly the opposite, leading to a massive expansion of the insured rolls, higher premiums and deductibles for the old and the sick, and hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Medicaid cuts.”
“After attacking Democrats for ramming Obamacare into law with only 60 votes after insufficient hearings, insufficient bipartisan outreach, and insufficient transparency, Republican senators nearly passed Trumpcare with only 50 votes after no hearings, no bipartisan outreach, and so little transparency that even most of them had no idea what would be in it until a few hours before their middle-of-the-night roll call.”
5 Ways the GOP Is Weaker After Failing on Health Care
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Let’s Not Forget Murkowski
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Is the GOP Health Care Effort Really Dead?
Playbook: “It is not completely clear. Talk to Hill Republicans and the big problem is this: House Republicans do not believe Senate Republicans can pass anything substantial — period. And the idea that a bi-cameral negotiation — called a “conference committee” — would have somehow produced a compromise was also a bit of a fantasy.”
“Repealing and replacing Obamacare is still the party’s central tenet — and has been for nearly a decade. But it will have to start anew, now. And it will continue to eat up much of the party’s time and energy on Capitol Hill. Obamacare was on life support many times in 2009-2010. Democrats eventually got it through… There will definitely be a push to starve the law of funding.”
Sam Baker: “Conservatives were particularly stung by last night’s defeat, and said they would keep up the pressure for some sort of action on repeal. But, realistically, it’s hard to see leaders in either chamber wading back into such a bruising fight any time soon.”
An Epic Fail for Republicans
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Quote of the Day
“It’s time to move on.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the Washington Post, after his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed.
Senate Rejects ‘Skinny Repeal’ Bill as McCain Votes No
The Senate “rejected a new, scaled-down Republican plan to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, derailing the Republicans’ seven-year campaign to dismantle President Obama’s signature health care law and dealing a huge political setback to President Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who just this week returned to the Senate after receiving a diagnosis of brain cancer, cast the decisive vote to defeat the proposal, joining two other Republicans, Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), in opposing it.”
“The 49-to-51 vote was also a humiliating setback for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has nurtured his reputation as a master tactician and spent the last three months trying to devise a repeal bill that could win support from members of his caucus.”
Politico: “It was a shocking — yet fitting — coda for the Senate’s health care battle, starring the veteran senator with a well-polished maverick streak who within days went from Obamacare repeal’s savior to its executioner.”
Earlier for members: Why McCain May Ultimately Kill the GOP Health Bill
Senate Republicans Release Their ‘Skinny Repeal’ Bill
Senate Republicans have finally released their “skinny” repeal bill which would eliminate some provisions of the Affordable Care Act without trying to replace any of them.
A new CBO report says bill would cause 15 million people to lose their health insurance by next year.
Here’s what happens next:
- There’s vote around midnight to replace the original House bill with his new “skinny repeal” bill.
- The Senate will hold a “vote-a-rama” on the bill which will likely last well into Friday morning.
- The vote for final passage will take place after all amendments have been considered.
Please leave your thoughts and observations in the comments.
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