Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Health Care Bill aka Tax Cuts for the Rich Down to the Wire

[A] mini-revolt by a cadre of Republicans from both the moderate and far-right wings of the party [...] announced Monday they would not vote to advance the bill as it’s currently written.

  TPM
"A cadre" must equal five.
On Tuesday morning, a fifth senator joined the opposition: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
The other four are: Susan Collins (R-ME), Rand Paul (R-KY), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Dean Heller (R-NV).
The opposition [...] effectively halts the bill’s progress, and with several other Republicans voicing doubts and concerns, the Senate’s multi-month effort to roll back Obamacare appears to be in jeopardy if changes are not made.

[...]

In response, GOP leaders and their allies are pulling out all the stops by inviting some dissenters to dine at the White House [and] running attack ads against others.

[...]

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on Monday night told reporters that the bill does not do the one thing he said was his priority: reduce premiums and out-of-pocket costs for health insurance consumers.

[...]

Cassidy was not yet ready to say whether he, too, would vote no on a motion to proceed with the bill.
He's waiting to see what's for dinner and what other perks they'll offer over after-dinner drinks.
Due to Republicans’ narrow majority in the Senate, the GOP can only afford to lose two members’ votes, and even then can only pass the bill if Vice President Mike Pence casts a tie-breaking vote.
Is it a given that all Democrats will vote against it? I wouldn't bet my life.
“The bottom line is: you’re not going to get 49 [votes]. You’re either going to get 50 or probably like 35,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters Monday.
Fifty or 35??
He offered with a laugh that he would not be “the guy” to bring the bill down, but the same cannot be said for some of his more vulnerable colleagues.

Noting the demands for more time to consider the bill, Graham said that no amount of time could fully bridge the divisions in the Republican Party.
I don't think they'll move Paul and Collins, but I don't know anything about any of those others.  It may come down to Pence's vote, which would be a yes.

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

UPDATE:

Rand Paul is going to meet with tRump this afternoon.  Oh to be a fly on the wall.

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