This is fucking insane. The second-in-command in the Senate, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, says "there will be a vote tomorrow" on the motion to proceed to the health care bill. But:
Again, the vote is tomorrow. There is reportedly going to be a meeting tonight in the Republican caucus where maybe they’ll figure out what they are going to do tomorrow. Maybe. If they move to a vote tomorrow, for whatever they decide to vote on, they’ve got problems.
The Senate’s budget rules blew a big hole in the Senate’s repeal-and-replace bill on Friday.
According to Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders’s office, the Senate parliamentarian has said that the bill’s six-month waiting period for people who have a lapse in health coverage — the GOP’s replacement for the individual mandate — is not permissible. [...]
That news came Friday, leaving Republican leaders just a few days to rewrite the provision in hopes of clearing the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which is supposed to limit the policies considered under “budget reconciliation” to those that directly affect the federal budget.
It is not at all clear that any tinkering can save the waiting period; outside experts have long said any similar policy would not survive the Byrd Rule. And without it, the Republican bill is tailor-made for a death spiral.
But what are they going to do about it? We don’t know. It’s a secret. Will the Congressional Budget Office or the parliamentarian see it before it gets to the floor? Not if they bring it up this week, because no one knows—STILL—what’s going to even be in the thing to be scored.
Why are they doing this? For this guy?
They’ve all lost their minds. Which is going to be a pre-existing condition, but they’ll undoubtedly be able to figure out how to keep themselves covered.
Make your Republican senator feel the heat. Call their office EVERY DAY at (202) 224-3121 to demand that they say NO to repealing Obamacare and ripping health care away from millions of Americans. After your call, tell us how it went.