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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's latest onslaught to pass Trumpcare is in trouble. He hasn't made enough changes to appease the not-extremists in his caucus, and the demands of the extremists might not be able to be met under Senate rules. Now some of the splintering senators—mostly on the not-as-extremist side—are making noises about teaming up with Democrats to stabilize the Obamacare markets.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said Tuesday he’ll release an outline of an alternative health-care plan this week. He said he’s seeking support from governors and senators of both parties.
Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said she’s spoken with Graham many times, and also has been talking with about a half-dozen Democrats who want a compromise with Republicans.
"Anyone who has looked at the state of the individual and small-group markets across this country knows that doing nothing is not an option," Collins said.
A handful of Democrats do seem to be talking to Republicans about this, and Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) apparently sees the strategic advantage in pushing this. He and his leadership team wrote to McConnell Monday telling him they would help if he were to refocus on "immediately advancing policies to provide stability and certainty to the health insurance markets."
All we need is three Republican senators to block Trumpcare. If you have a GOP senator, we need you to call their office at (202) 224-3121 and demand that they put their constituents above their party by voting to block Trumpcare. After the call, tell us how the call went.
New polling previewed by Kaiser Family Foundation’s Drew Altman as Axios is going to give Graham, Collins and friends some momentum.
- 71% of the public, including nearly all Democrats and 72% of Independents, favor a bipartisan effort to improve the ACA, rather than Republicans continuing their efforts to repeal it.
- 46% of Trump supporters say they want to see Republicans work with Democrats to improve the Affordable Care Act—statistically tied with the 47% who would rather see Republicans continue working on their own plan to repeal and replace it.
- 54% of Republicans want Congress to keep working on a repeal and replace plan, but 41% want Republicans to work across the aisle on fixes to the ACA.
That’s all the encouragement McConnell’s wayward senators need to continue this push and to defect from Trumpcare. Well, not all the encouragement—they need to hear from us, too.