Campaign Action
Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) announced Friday afternoon in a joint press conference with Nevada's Gov. Brian Sandoval that he will oppose the Senate Trumpcare bill "in this form." Heller's criticisms of the bill were pointed and many.
Heller laid out a laundry list of concerns with the Senate version of the bill, including concerns that rolling back Medicaid eligibility would eventually leave a nearly half-billion dollar hole in the state budget, and wouldn’t do anything to lower premiums. He said revisions that would make him more comfortable with the bill were unlikely to move forward given that conservative factions in the Senate demanding the bill go even further in rolling back the federal insurance law.
“It’s going to be very difficult to get me to a yes,” Heller said. […]
Sandoval — who has long held concerns about federal efforts to roll back Medicaid eligibility — said the Senate version of the bill would require the state to find approximately $480 million to continue existing levels of coverage, which he said the state “cannot sustain.” The Republican governor said he felt that he had made a “personal commitment” to the newly eligible population, and promised to continue to fight for continuing insurance coverage. […]
“At first glance, I have serious concerns about the bill’s impact on the Nevadans who depend on Medicaid,” [Heller] said in a statement.
The DSCC isn't buying it.
Make your Republican senator feel the heat. Call their office EVERY DAY at (202) 224-3121 to demand that they say NO to ripping health care away from millions of Americans. No on Trumpcare. Then, tell us how it went.
In an emailed statement, spokesman David Bergstein writes:
"Senator Heller is awfully good at taking marching orders from Washington, which is why he trotted out before the cameras to say he’s leaving the door open to supporting the Republican health care plan. If he truly cared about protecting Nevadans from cost hikes, then why does he support ending the Medicaid expansion and why did he pledged to do everything he can to get to a yes on the Republican health plan? Voters already know they can't trust Senator Heller, and we’ll continue to make sure he’s held accountable for a plan that will force Nevadans to pay more for less care."
Heller has voted multiple times to repeal Obamacare and has said he's fine with the phase-out of Medicaid expansion. But now that hundreds of thousands of Nevadans' health care—and votes in 2018—are on the line, he has permission to take a "tough" stand. He's got the backing of Sandoval on that, and has tied himself tightly to the governor on this.
From this press conference, it seems pretty definite that Heller is going to be allowed to vote no, as leadership reportedly wants. He's their most vulnerable senator up in 2018, and they want to protect him. It does make McConnell's job of figuring out who the second senators he lets off the hook is. Remember, his majority is 52, and passing this will require 51—with Vice President Mike Pence on hand to provide that tie-breaking vote. So he can only let one more go. If Heller is off the hook, does McConnell appease the conservatives and make the bill harsher, or does Heller's opposition strengthen the spines of the senators from Medicaid expansion states?
It does shake up the calculus enough that it makes our opposition, our phone calls and emails, that much more important. If you have Republican senators, keep giving them hell.