Friday, May 5, 2017

Make No Mistake About It


Small detail: it hasn't been passed.  It still has to make it through the Senate.  It's still a crap plan.
After weeks of fits and starts, House Republicans had narrowly passed a proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare and voted to forward to the Senate a bill that is both unpopular with the American public and unlikely to pass the chamber in its current form.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, hailed the vote as “an important step” and a “job well done”. But Republicans in the upper chamber swiftly vowed to draft their own healthcare legislation rather than take up the House-passed American Health Care Act.

[...]

The widespread consensus among Republicans was that it was difficult to truly weigh in on the House legislation due to the hurried process through which it was passed. Most Senate Republicans confessed to not knowing what was even in the House bill and declined to take an explicit position absent a score from the Congressional Budget Office.

[...]

The widespread caution among Republicans in the Senate was reflective of both the obstacles and limitations they foresee ahead. Republicans hold just 52 seats in the upper chamber and thus can afford to lose no more than two votes.

[...]

At least two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have also opposed attempts to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the healthcare debate.

[...]

And so while House Republicans marked the moment by hopping on buses to the White House [rose garden for a (premature) victory celebration and TV announcement by Trump], their counterparts in the Senate warned of a long and windy road that could last anywhere from weeks to months before a vote.

  Guardian


...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

No comments: