Senate Republicans Failed to Pass the Skinny Repeal of Obamacare

[Frank Underwood]

Senate Republicans weren't able to muster enough votes to pass their skinny repeal of Obamacare.

Senators voted 49-51 shortly before 2:00 a.m. Friday morning. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) cast a surprise "no" vote. He was joined by GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine).

The bill, titled the Health Care Freedom Act, would have repealed the individual insurance mandate. It would also have repealed the employer mandate for eight years.

GOP leaders and Vice President Mike Pence huddled with McCain, Murkowski and Collins before the vote, which was stalled for nearly an hour.

A few minutes before the vote, McCain crossed the chamber to huddle with Democrats.

McCain's "no" vote came as a shock to many. Democrats applauded the move on Twitter.

The vote is a devastating blow for Republicans who have fought for months to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and will likely have to start the process all over again.

"This is clearly a disappointing moment," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said shortly after the final vote tally was called.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer admitted that the current health care law is not perfect and called for Republicans and Democrats to work together to fix the problems with Obamacare.

Now the Senate will move on to the defense budget.

Source: https://www.circa.com/story/2017/07/28/politics/obamacare-skinny-repeal-fails-to-pass-the-senate

 

[Gabriel Maxwell]

Hallelujah.

Trump's obedient poodle, the creepy Mike Pence arrived at the Capitol just before midnight as protesters chanted "SHAME! ...SHAME! ...SHAME!" hoping to cast his infamous tie-breaking vote.

Pence apparently engaged in "intense lobbying" of John McCain, but - sadly for him and Trump - came out unsuccessful in his attempts to change the Arizona senator's mind. I wonder if Trump will flip-flop on calling McCain a 'hero' once again.

https://www.axios.com/mccain-kills-senate-health-care-bill-2466449616.html

But, get this - some senators, incl. McCain, said they would be willing to cast the vote, if they could get assurances it wouldn't end up becoming the law. How perverted from the original purpose of this legislative process is that?

What a hot incompetent mess the GOP are. And with all the immense power they were handed in 2016.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Good for McCain. He's a man who doesn't always out his money where his mouth is.

Sort of maybe.

 

[Frank Underwood]

"Does everyone remember when Mr. Trump told the Australian prime minister that they have 'better health care' than we do? Well after it happened, I said I would quote the president on the floor of the Senate so he could prove my point on why we need universal health care just like Australia, and today I got the opportunity to do so. Thank you Mr. President." - Bernie Sanders

 

[SueEllenRules!]

 

[SueEllenRules!]

Trump Says Repeal and Replace is Not Dead, Unless GOP are 'Quitters'
After a series of GOP failures to pass any health care legislation this week, President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that the plan to repeal and replace Obamacare was not dead — "unless the Republican Senators are total quitters."

• Earlier in the day Trump used Twitter to declare that Republicans “look like fools” a day after they failed to pass a "skinny" health care plan, which he followed with threats to insurance companies and lawmakers.
• “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon,” he said in a Saturday morning tweetstorm.
• The Trump administration already cancelled $5 million in HealthCare.gov ads that advertised the upcoming enrollment season, and the president is now threatening to withhold federal payments that help reduce insurance premiums — particularly for low-income people — and keep companies in the market.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed that Trump was putting his thumb on the scale and toying with the lives of millions.
• “If the President refuses to make the cost sharing reduction payments, every expert agrees that premiums will go up and health care will be more expensive for millions of Americans,” Schumer said in a statement. “The president ought to stop playing politics with people's lives and health care, start leading and finally begin acting Presidential.”
• Trump also used Twitter on Saturday morning to blast the Senate rules that require 60 votes to overcome a legislative filibuster after Senate Republicans failed to pass a “skinny” version of its health care plan.
• Senate rules state that three-fifths of the Senate must agree to end the debate over a piece of legislation and move to a vote, which is known as invoking cloture. A group of 61 senators from both parties sent a letter to Senate leaders in April that stated their opposition to eliminating the legislative filibuster.
• Republicans had avoided a filibuster in the first place by attempting to pass health care through budget reconciliation, which limits their actions to only impacting costs or taxes. Budget reconciliation only requires 51 votes and doesn’t provide an opportunity for a filibuster — but the tactic also greatly hampered the GOP’s ability to change the law.
• The president declared on Saturday morning that the Senate must get rid of the rule because “It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country.”
• He added in a later tweet that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must “go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT’S TIME!”
• McConnell has previously dismissed such demands from the president, who said in a May 2 tweet that the country needed to “either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%” or the country would need to undergo “a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!”
• According to Trump’s Saturday tweets, Democrats were “laughing at R’s” and would dismantle the filibuster if they “ever got the chance.”

Trump Says Repeal and Replace is Not Dead, Unless GOP are 'Quitters' - NBC News
https://apple.news/AMheAp5CWQF-ewcjn9Ch3dg