Congressional Republicans greeted speaker Paul Ryan on the house floor this afternoon like the frat bro who once did a ten-minute keg stand. "I haven't even said anything yet," he beamed to his fawning colleagues. The fact that the house just narrowly passed a new version of Trumpcare, plus reports of "cases upon cases of beer" being rolled into the Capitol building, suggest he might get to show off his ability to drink to excess, safe in the knowledge that he and his fellow members of Congress will still be covered under Obamacare should anyone blackout from alcohol poisoning.
Republicans who voted against the bill, about 65 percent (13/20) of whom represent districts on the DCCC's "target" list, may be tempted to join the celebration. Now they can run back home to their constituents, the majority of whom voted for Hillary Clinton, and claim an independent streak.
Washington's elusive congressman, Dave Reichert, is already touting his maverick status.
In a statement released shortly before Republicans voted to kick 24 million people off of health insurance, Reichert claimed that the Trumpcare 2.0 just didn't provide "the essential benefits" he needed to support it. Citing concerns about cuts to Medicaid and wanting to cover people with pre-existing conditions, he pledged to "continue to work with [his] colleagues on both sides of the aisle to...make our current system work better."
In an interview with the Seattle Times, Reichert added that he didn't want to vote for the new bill because it had been, as Jim Brunner summarizes, "rushed through without a proper vetting of costs."
With a knowing chuckle in his voice, Reichert reiterated that claim to KING 5: "Before you vote on a bill, you should know how much it costs."
But back in March, Reichert apparently lacked this conviction when he voted for Trumpcare in committee without knowing how much it would cost and without knowing how many of his own constituents stood to lose coverage. Moreover, he only came out against Trumpcare 2.0 after GOP leadership announced they had enough votes to pass the bill.
According to the Times, Reichert framed his waffling on this decision as doing “'due diligence' and collecting facts."
WHAT FACTS. Those Medicaid cuts he says he's so worried about now? They were included in the bill he voted for two months ago. Rep. Fred Upton's "game-changing" $8 billion amendment to offset the costs of states waving protections for sick people? Rated as woefully insufficient to the task 24 hours ago.
The only fact that really matters has been known for months. If Trump ends up signing this bill, lots of people are going to die.
Clearly, Reichert's just using his "No" on Trumpcare 2.0 the way he uses his pro-environment votes: to maintain the false narrative that he's a conservative with a "conscience-driven independent streak."
The truth is, this whole thing has nothing to do with health care. It has nothing to do with trying to lure insurers back to the rural counties of Iowa. (Insurers are threatening to flee those markets, but the way, because Trump keeps threatening to kill the government subsidies to those insurance companies.) This vote was about transferring money from the poorest and sickest Americans in order to fund a tax cut for the richest two percent of Americans, and wanting to help Paul Ryan get a fucking 'W' while banking on the Senate taking a hit.
This is disgusting, murderous legislation rushed through and passed for optics. Republicans like Reichert are trying desperately to escape their early endorsements. Don't let them.
Reichert Watch:
Every time Reichert takes a party line vote that hurts his constituents or introduces needless legislation or does anything at all, we'll add it to the list.
• On March 9, he voted for the GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
• A week later, after a Congressional Budget Office analysis found the plan could leave 24 million people across the country without insurance by 2026, he defended it.
• Before that, Reichert made misleading statements about threats posed by his own constituents.
• Recently, he voted for the SCRUB act, which creates a regulatory committee to identify and eliminate regulations that don’t directly increase the GDP. The committee’s goals align with White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon’s plan to “deconstruct the administrative state," but the irony of commissioning a regulatory agency to cut back on regulations is lost on no one, especially not tax payers who are being charged $30 million for the favor.
• Reichert twice voted against forcing Trump to show Congress his tax returns (once in committee and once in a roll call vote), which may illuminate conflicts of interest and business ties with Russia.
• Reichert was the only Washington Republican who voted to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics.
• In 2014, he proposed a bill that would ban welfare recipients from using benefits to buy weed, despite the fact that such purchases were already illegal.
• In 2010, he voted to maintain “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell."
• That same year, Reichert suffered significant brain trauma when a tree branch fell on his head. The resulting hand-sized blood clot that formed in his brain went untreated for two months.
• In their 2006
