And that is call the Senate.
Be firm, be polite and be clear about what you want your Senator to do about the BCRA.
Let them know that this is important to you, let them know it is important to your family and let them know it is critical to your community.
Open thread
rikyrah
CALL CALL CALL
Ohio Mom
You know I will call, but is there an end in sight?
end/whine
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom: Supposedly they have to do something before the August Recess (starting at the end of July) or it’s dead for this year.
But we can’t assume they won’t try to ram something through at any time no matter what the calendar says. They want Obamacare gone, somehow, and they want their tax cuts. They will keep trying to get it done.
Thanks for your calls, everyone. Keep fighting!
Cheers,
Scott.
Nicole
@Another Scott: After September 30, I believe, they will need 60 votes. That’s why they are in such a hurry.
David Stewart
It may have come up here before, but seeing what was driving Freddie deBoer makes me a lot more understanding and sympathetic. You might want to consider his mania here: https://medium.com/@freddiedeboer/digging-out-20bf30cbddf9
low-tech cyclist
Also, it’s not too early to call your Representatives.
If, God forbid, this monstrosity passes the Senate, the plan is for the House to vote on the Senate bill without any changes, which would happen probably just a few days after the Senate vote.
@Another Scott:
Tru dat. It’ll be dead only when we’ve taken back the House or the Senate.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” – Wendell Phillips, 1852
Another Scott
@David Stewart: Interesting, and disconcerting.
I try to remember that there are always real people on the other side of the pixels. But some people’s writing, er, well, let’s just say that it’s better for my mental health to avoid them. ;-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
David Anderson
@Ohio Mom: Once the bill is defeated in the Senate OR the reconciliation instructions expire with the passage of new reconciliation instructions
Ohio Mom
The end of July, I guess that is in sight.
But I also agree that they will never totally stop. The day may come when health coverage is like Social Security — something the Right-wing spreads nasty rumors about (“It’s going broke!”) without actual success, but third-rail status will take time to develop.
I mean, yes, Social Security could be improved upon, and they are effective in preventing that, but I don’t fear the entire system being dismantled like I currently do with the ACA.
low-tech cyclist
@David Anderson:
And I really don’t expect Mitch to hold a vote unless he has the votes to pass it. Either it passes, or no vote, so he can try ramming it through at some later date.
So the end of the tunnel is January 3, 2019, IF we take back at least one House of Congress. (Seriously, I’d be especially worried about a post-midterm lame duck session where defeated Congresscritters no longer had anything to fear from constituents.)
rikyrah
@Ohio Mom:
They are seriously on the clock. They key about this, is that they wanted to get it done with reconciliation. If we can run out the clock on them, they’ll be forced to do it with the 60 vote threshold and that’s a whole new ballgame.
Remember, they also have to do the debt ceiling very soon too.
Oh yeah..and a budget.
Bruce K
If I get the chance, I’m gonna call Schumer’s office again. With a side note that regulating snortable chocolate is the sort of thing a healthy government concerns itself with, but unfortunately, we don’t exactly have a healthy government at the moment…
rikyrah
McConnell far from giving up on a far-right health care overhaul
07/11/17 08:40 AM—UPDATED 07/11/17 08:47 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s hard not to feel a sense of déjà vu. A few weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), after writing a health care bill in secret, said he’d unveil his legislation on a Thursday, receive a report from the Congressional Budget Office the following Monday, and then hold a vote a few days later.
And here we are again, with McConnell writing a revised bill in secret, announcing a plan to unveil the legislation on Thursday, getting word from the CBO on Monday, and holding a vote a few days later. Politico reported:
What’s unclear is whether the Senate Republican leadership will have more success this time than the last.
An increasingly popular talking point among GOP lawmakers is the idea that their unpopular health care bill no longer exists, since McConnell’s office is rewriting it. Like too many of the Republican arguments on health care, that’s deliberately misleading: by all accounts, McConnell is looking to tweak, not fundamentally overhaul, the blueprint he unveiled in June.
……………………………………………………
But funny things sometimes happen to politicians when they return to D.C. and instead of feeling pressure from constituents, telling them to do the right thing, lawmakers start feeling pressure from their party leaders, telling them to do the partisan thing.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), for example, has looked like a solid “no” vote, but the Nevada Republican said yesterday that the bill could still be changed to earn his support. Similarly, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), another critic of McConnell’s original version, said she believed the GOP blueprint is salvageable.
rikyrah
New Trumpcare bill to be released Thu 7/13
CBO score Mon 7/17 or Tue 7/18
VOTE by Thu 7/20 or Fri 7/21
RESISTANCE ALL THE DAYS https://t.co/PoDkEfweh4
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 10, 2017
rikyrah
The GOP’s health bill is in real trouble. Here’s how Republicans are trying to save it. https://t.co/9KgM5dvb4Q
— POLITICO (@politico) July 10, 2017
rikyrah
Good, useful overview of Senate state of play on health care bill, from @perrybaconjr: https://t.co/IWZiLId49k
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 11, 2017
Even w/ALL concessions McConnell makes, Trumpcare STILL takes away HC from MILLIONS. With enormous tax breaks to wealthy.
Unacceptable. https://t.co/bKNHeImmyj
— Meenakshi Bewtra (@DrsMeena) July 11, 2017
rikyrah
“It’s not just about health care, it’s really about my ability to participate in society.” https://t.co/RXledcgBhV
— ProPublica (@ProPublica) July 11, 2017
Ohio Mom
Portman’s office staff need to win an award for slacking off — it is not easy finding an office where the voicemail isn’t already full. I did get through to someone in the Toledo office, and complimented her work ethic before launching into my usual.
Also wrote a letter, anything to put off the vacuuming.
Bg
Sad to see so few comments here and I hope it doesn’t mean interest is dropping.
I called Rubio’s office today after we got back from the Oncology Pharmacy where we shelled out more than $2500 for my husband’s meds because he is in the donut hole. ACA is scheduled to close the donut hole by 2020. I told the nice young woman that we can afford this cost but not forever and lots of other people can’t, so please don’t repeal the ACA.