Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has lost two votes on Trumpcare.
At this point, he'll need Vice President Mike Pence to advance the bill to a vote. BUT, if just one more Republican says "no" he can't take this to the floor next week. There are plenty of possibilities—lots of Republicans have been grumbling about this for weeks, and nothing McConnell did in this bill should win over any of them. But the main target for the resistance has to be Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV).
Heller stood on a stage with his Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and said that he could not support the bill in the original form because of the huge Medicaid cuts in particular, but for other reasons, too. "It’s going to be very difficult to get me to a yes," Heller said then. The really bad stuff for his state is still in the bill. It would still destroy Medicaid. It would still make premiums unaffordable for older people, and for rural people.
He should also be offended that he didn't get a special bribe out of McConnell to win him over. After all, another hold-out, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has a whole provision made just for Alaska to win her over. (Speaking of which, Murkowski, are you going to be so easily bought off?) But as of now, Heller says he is undecided. Even though nothing in the revision of the bill answers any of the things he said he was opposing it for.
Right now, he's being personally pressured by Mitch McConnell, along with Murkowski and Ohio's Rob Portman—both undecided because of Medicaid. Heller needs to be pressured by his constituents. If you live in Nevada, call: 702-388-6605, 775-686-5770, and 202-224-6244.
Please give $1 to each of our Senate funds so that Republican senators—especially Dean Heller—know there'll be a price to pay for repealing health care.
