Republicans can only afford to lose two Senators on their quest to pass their version of Trumpcare, which is as bad if not worse than the House's version of the bill. Right now, four Senators are stating (or feigning) opposition:
Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah said in a joint statement they're "not ready to vote for this bill."
"Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor," the senators said. "There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current health care system, but it does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their health care costs."
Meanwhile, Ezra Levin of Indivisible is cautioning members of the #Resistance. "Opposition" from these extremely conservative Senators is clearly a strategy, he claims. They're not really against the Senate's version of the AHCA, they're just trying to dampen a rising tide of liberal protests against the bill even as they push to add more conservative amendments.
Operative words here are "as written." You should expect what's known as a "substitute amendment" at the last minute. Don't be fooled. https://t.co/g5AaZ4HVwC
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) June 22, 2017
Four Senate Republicans who ACTUALLY might want to avoid signing onto this version of the AHCA include Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, and Dean Heller. Seek them out at trumpcareten.org and express your concerns. I wouldn't be surprised if McConnell allows either Collins and Murkowski or Flake and Heller to vote against the bill and have Pence come in as the tie-breaker for the sheer sake of optics, but who fucking knows with these people.
Meanwhile, footage of a private meeting between the 13 men who crafted this bill in secret has been released:
Meanwhile, Capitol Police are dragging people with disabilities away from Mitch McConnell's office door for protesting the AHCA, which strips 800 billion from Medicaid and gives all that money to the rich. These protestors are awesome:
Capitol Police are physically removing protesters who are staging a "die-in" in front of McConnell's office pic.twitter.com/8BU0dW63VI
— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) June 22, 2017
pic.twitter.com/4LrlZKgYeO
— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) June 22, 2017
Paramedics and custodians had to help police mop blood off of the floor today during the ACA protest. https://t.co/eo75WiKrQv pic.twitter.com/doLvhXpSNH
— Olivia Messer (@OliviaMesser) June 22, 2017
Meanwhile, Trump is doing his best to distract red-yarn liberals by claiming he didn't record conversations between himself and former FBI director James Comey, a la Nixon. He was just bluffing. Go figure.