Campaign Action
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's henchman, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) says that the postponed Trumpcare bill which leaderships wants to have revised by Friday just needs some minor adjustments. Just a nip there and a tuck here and it will all be fine. And really, they're just little things.
"We're going to take the bill we have and try to, there are always little things, dials you can twist to try to attract support," he said Wednesday, appearing on "Fox and Friends."
He said there are "a couple of issues" conservatives want to address and "a couple of issues" moderates want to address, likely referring to the fact that several GOP Senators in Medicaid-expansion states have said they can't support the plan because of its rollback of the expansion.
That's not out of the realm of possibility because if the last election proved anything, it's that the unthinkable is always possible. It just doesn't seem very likely. Because if you ask Sens. Dean Heller (NV), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Susan Collins (ME) if their issues are limited to a couple and are small, they'll probably laugh at you. Then there's the other side, represented by Rand Paul (KY) who is being very vocal about all his problems, starting with the fact that he thinks he and his pals have been ignored. "I think the moderates have gotten everything they want … so now it's time for conservatives to get something." The moderates would clearly disagree.
All we need is 3 Republican senators to block Trumpcare. If you have a GOP senator, we need you to call their office at (202) 224-3121. Demand that they put their constituents above their party. After the call, tell us how the call went.
He continues to say that this bill isn't really a repeal, and has also issued his list of demands which includes getting rid of all the regulations from the Affordable Care Act on the private insurance market that provides all the consumer protections and makes health insurance both worthwhile and affordable for everyone, the cost-sharing reduction payments that insurance companies have been receiving to help lower income people meet deductibles and copays, and the continuous coverage provision—added at the last minute—that replaces the individual mandate that everyone who can afford to buy insurance by telling them they have to go without coverage for six months if they ever let their policies lapse. The last two things the insurance companies pretty much demand be there. The first one is the promise that people with pre-existing conditions would still be protected (an already exceedingly flimsy promise).
He says an agreement by Friday isn't happening, though it's unclear whether it's an actual threat or just hot air because he does that when there's a microphone in front of him. Nevertheless, meeting those demands wouldn't just be a minor tweak. Meeting those demands would also drive a deeper wedge with the moderates. Probably.
But we know the propensity of the moderates to cave. That's why they need to keep feeling our heat.
