Deleted. I can’t delete others posts, but I can delete my words in the initiating threads.
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well, I am relieved … a little … although to be honest I can’t see this ending in anything but a) complete failure of senate and house to pass anything or b) passage of a bill that keeps all the bad bits of Obamacare and then axes all the good things.
Still, I think it’s fair and right for the Senate to at least allow more time for discussion of the bill, for them to hear from their constituents in town halls, etc. to see exactly how they feel.
The reason I’m so pessimistic is that what the Senate might be willing to pass may be very different from what the House is willing to pass.
The house only got this bill through by appeasing the Freedom Caucus. In the Senate, there are 4 to 5 conservative senators who will likely support a bill that is even more austere but will definitely not accept more nods to the preservation of Medicaid, etc… but only about 2 to 3 Republicans who at this point have come forward saying they will only vote for a more moderate bill – and we don’t know what their price is for voting yes on a bill. It may be that their votes can be bought relatively cheaply, with, say, increased funding for opioid treatments. Whatever the Senate passes has to go back down to the House… So the landscape is skewed towards a more conservative bill.
You know, in theory Mitch McConnell could decide that a bipartisan bill is better than nothing and would probably result in a healthcare reform that actually benefits most Americans – but he doesn’t seem like he really wants to work with Democrats on this. I mean, from his perspective (giving him a HUGE benefit of the doubt), Democrats are the ones who “messed things up” in the first place. I’m also not sure they *could work with Democrats even if they try. Democrats want to expand the social safety net, and Republicans want to remove it. Not a ton of common ground. The few things they might in theory agree on (like reducing expenditures and waste in the system) they won’t address because of special interest money.
Anyways, I think it’s time to be mildly relieved but for those opposed or even those in favor who just want to give their opinion, it’s probably not time to let up on senators. I think it’s important to call them and ask them what they will absolutely not vote for, what they need to see in a bill to pass, etc… get them on record before the next slightly modified version shows up. They have enormous pressure on them to do something — the momentum to pass even a terrible bill is going to be very, very high.
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