Talk of Republican moderates typically involves someone being played for a sucker, as the party’s efforts to repeal Obamacare show off. Time after time, we see a Republican senator make what looks like a principled stand against their party … until caving on the final vote, having been bought off by a concession a fraction the size of their original objections. Was the so-called moderate played for a fool by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s arm-twisting and Donald Trump’s attack tweets, or was the media played for a fool by a performance of Reasonable Moderate Standing Up to Their Party that was rigged all along? Whatever the answer, the rush to pass Graham-Cassidy shows off just how fake the whole thing is.
On the past failed Obamacare repeal bills, several Republicans extracted concessions that supposedly justified their yes votes. West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito and Ohio’s Rob Portman got $45 billion in opioid funding that wasn’t going to make up for the gutting of Medicaid expansion, but they could pretend to have gotten a win. But, Alice Ollstein reports:
This time around, with a bill that includes even deeper cuts to Medicaid and no additional opioid funding, Capito refuses to say how she will vote and Portman has said he is “open” to the proposal.
When asked by TPM whether Portman is attempting to negotiate the same funding boost and whether that will influence his final vote, Portman’s office would only say: “The senator is reviewing the proposal and getting feedback.”
Cynical but safe money is on Capito and Portman voting for Graham-Cassidy without any opioid funding added. Meanwhile, the Republicans who did follow through and stand up to their party last time wanted some stuff going forward—like having bills go through regular order rather than being rammed down their throats. Will John McCain do an about-face and decide regular order isn’t so important to him after all, or will he live up to his own hype? Will Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski continue to stand firm even as the pressure their leadership is putting on them builds? There’s even less in Graham-Cassidy for all these people than there was in previous votes, so if they go along with McConnell and Trump, they’ll be telling us a lot about where principle ranks in relation to partisanship.
There is only one way to stop Trumpcare: Republican senators must pay their political price by having constituents mad at them. We need you now, more than ever to make calls. Call your senator at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to vote NO. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)