Despite all the whining, despite all the supposed angst about the pain and the harm that this could cause their constituents, 50 Republican senators just voted to repeal Obamacare and destroy Medicaid. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted no. Every Democrat held off on voting until the final Republican vote was cast, and every one voted no. Vice President Mike Pence broke the tie.
Those voting yes, which is a rubber stamp to McConnell passing whatever the final bill will be, include Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who said just one week ago, "I did not come to Washington to hurt people. For months, I have expressed reservations about the direction of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare." She also said "I will only vote to proceed to repeal legislation if I am confident there is a replacement plan that addresses my concerns." She just voted to move forward on this today, even though she doesn’t have one goddamned clue what the outcome will be, or if there will be any kind of replacement once McConnell takes whatever "skinny repeal" he gets out of the Senate to a conference with the House.
The same goes for Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, who just just one month ago said "It’s going to be very difficult to get me to a yes," because of his "serious concerns about the bill’s impact on the Nevadans who depend on Medicaid."
How about Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who confronted McConnell in a meeting a month ago, telling him "The leadership has overreached on this bill"? Looks like he got over that.
And the maverick himself, Sen. John McCain? He left his taxpayer-funded sickbed to cast what ultimately was the deciding vote to make sure the kind of health care he’s receiving is denied to millions of others. So much for his legacy.
They were all bought off by the promise that they would get to participate with amendments. They will, but the end result will be McConnell's skinny repeal bill that he takes to the conference in order to substitute whatever he feels like. Because that's how it works in McConnell's Senate.
That is, if he manages to get 50 votes for final passage. There's so much shit in this sandwich Republicans might actually believe themselves when they say "I only voted to have a debate," and might, just might have enough integrity to not sign off on this in the end.
Which means we keep calling. Blow up their phones. Occupy their local offices. Raise. Holy. Hell.
Not a single hearing, no markup, crafted in secret, and no actual final bill before Senate plans to vote on Trumpcare today? Call your Senator at (202) 224-3121, and give them a piece of your mind. Then, tell us how it went.