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So popular vote loser Donald Trump's son has just publicly confessed to coordinating with the Russian government in his father's election. It's a great time for the ruling party to take health insurance away from 22 million people! That appears to remain at the top of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's agenda. Maybe it's what's behind his big rush to get it passed, despite the fact that his Republican caucus is fracturing. Do it before something has to be done about the Russian operative in the Oval Office.
Republican leaders are frantically pushing for a vote on the Senate’s ailing Obamacare repeal bill next week, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell racing to placate warring moderates and conservatives with a new draft due within days, according to senators and aides.
New bill text could be unveiled to senators as soon as Thursday, according to sources familiar with the proposal. A Congressional Budget Office score is likely to follow as soon as next Monday.
"My gut assessment is we need to start voting. … We need to get started, and the goal continues to be to do that next week," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). Pressed on whether his party will be successful, he said: "I never want to fight to lose. I want to fight to win. And that remains the goal."
Republican senators continue to grouse about the fact that they don't know what's in this bill, either, because once again all the changes, all the negotiating has been done in secret. Extremists Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are continuing to raise hell about adding their amendment which would effectively end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and that's driving not-so-extremists like Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) away. There's apparently some kind of "gang" effort at work, too, if you can believe Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), notorious Senate bipartisan "gang" member, who says in a day or two we'll hear about something involving Democrats.
But McConnell is still pushing. He still wants a vote next week. To give another win to Trump—the guy he knew before the election was getting help from Vladimir Putin. In fact, McConnell so wants to take health insurance away from 22 million Americans, it's such a priority to him, that he didn't just look the other way when he found out about Russia and Trump. He squashed the information, kept the public from knowing. Are his fellow Republicans going to follow him down this path?
U.S. Senate is back from recess, and Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote on Trumpcare NEXT WEEK. Call your senator at (202) 224-3121, and tell them “NO DEAL.” Then, tell us how it went.