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All those white men in that picture are reportedly going to be deciding the next round of Trumpcare. While House Republicans were having their Bud Lite and Trump party after the vote Thursday, enough Republican senators were rejecting that bill, meaning this group is going to have to pretty much start from scratch. They are left to right, top to bottom:
- John Thune (SD)
- Mike Enzi (WY)
- Pat Toomey (PA)
- Rob Portman (OH)
- Cory Gardner (CO)
- Ted Cruz (TX)
- Mitch McConnell (KY)
- Tom Cotton (AR)
- Mike Lee (UT)
- John Barrasso (WY)
- Lamar Alexander (TN)
- John Cornyn (TX)
- Orrin Hatch (UT)
A few glaring things, besides the lack of a hue darker than pasty: Texas, Utah, and Wyoming are disproportionately represented, as usual; none of the most vocal detractors of the House bill are present; the only two senators who've put something forward this term—Susan Collins and Bill Cassidy—are notably absent; several of them have said they're not too comfortable with their state losing its Medicaid expansion. But bomb-throwing Ted Cruz is there to represent his peeps, the House Freedom Caucus maniacs who exhorted their wish list out of their spineless colleagues.
Also, what about Jeff Flake (AZ) and Dean Heller (NV)? Those are the two who are genuinely vulnerable in 2018. Might not they get to have a say in the biggest piece of legislation facing them this cycle?
But the main thing? Where are the women? They actually do have six to choose from, so even if they didn't pick those radicals Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who think Planned Parenthood is kind of important for women's health, didn't it occur to them that having one woman might be smart? Since they're deciding things like whether rape or domestic violence or having ovaries are going to be pre-existing conditions?
