Mitch McConnell on healthcare-It's a very complicated subject
With a look of defeat upon his face, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stood at the podium and admitted that reforming healthcare is a “complicated” process that may or may not get done.
McConnell told the pool of reporters, “It’s a very complicated subject. I remember how challenging it was for the Democrats when they were enacting this…Legislation of this complexity almost always takes longer than anybody hopes.”
The senate majority leader’s admission came after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released a grim report detailing the uphill battle Republicans will have trying to find a fix to Obamacare.
The CBO and JCT reported that if the Republicans’ healthcare bill becomes law it will result in 15 million people losing their health insurance next year, 19 million people losing their health insurance by time the 2020 presidential election comes around, and 22 million people losing their health insurance by 2026.
And of course, that is not the worst part. The worst part is the Medicaid voters, old folks who vote, would see a 26 % decrease in the amount of money going towards Medicaid.
Needless to say, this does not sit well with the voters. According to a recent Quinnipiac Poll of all voters, an overwhelming 71% of voters disapprove of taking money away from the Medicaid program compared to 24% of voters who are cool with the Medicaid program getting lesser money.
To put this in some context, the Democrats faced the same level of opposition in 2010 when they passed Obamacare.
Obamacare received 39.9% of the public support compared to 51.4% of the public’s disapproval.
As a result of Obamacare’s high unpopularity rating, the Democrats got what President Obama called a “shellacking” in the 2014 congressional races; which is also when the Republicans picked up enough seats to take control of both chambers of congress.
The final blow to the Democrat Party came in 2016 after former reality TV host Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
And with his win, the Republican Party solidified their control over the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.
So now, the Republicans are in the same position as their Democratic colleagues who, during the year 2010, controlled congress and the presidency.
If y’all are thinking déjà vu, y’all are correct. In fact, the CBO and JCT’s report made Senator Lindsey Graham so nervous about his party’s healthcare bill leading to a déjà vu that he warned the Republicans to not support Donald Trump, who called the bill “mean,” because he would throw them out to pasture like he did the House Republicans and their own senate mate Dean Heller (NV); who Donald Trump okayed an attack ad against because of his (Dean Heller) opposition to the Senate healthcare bill.
Therefore, it was only reasonable that upon hearing all of the bad news about their healthcare bill that the Senate Republicans ran away from their healthcare bill like it was a back-dated child support notice.
McConnell found himself four senators short, which is two more than he can afford to lose, of moving the “motion” forward to even get the bill on the floor of the senate for a vote.
Senators Susan Collins (ME), Dean Heller (NV), Rand Paul (KY), and Ron Johnson (WI) said “un, un, no dice” on voting for that motion.
Due to McConnell not having the votes to even bring the bill to the floor for a vote, he had to officially delay the vote on the bill for at least two weeks.
Where the Republicans go from here depends upon them. Republican Senators like Lisa Murkowski (AK) and John McCain (AZ) have said that their party must find a way to work with their Democratic colleagues.
Murkowski told MSNBC’s Garrett Haake, “we’re the congress of the United States…This is not for Republicans to fix or Democrats to fix. This is for us as Americans to fix…We should be working with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.”
However, McConnell has expressed doubt about working with the Democrats. After announcing the delay of the bill, McConnell said about working with his Democratic colleagues, “They’re not interested in participating with us.”
And it is true. Not many Democrats are interested in working with the Republicans because the Republicans gave them the same salty treatment that they gave the Republicans back in 2010 when the Democrats were working on Obamacare.
And now that the shoe is on the other foot, many within the Democratic Party are giving the Republicans the cold shoulder.
So yeah, the status of the healthcare bill is “complicated.” Can you say déjà vu?
McConnell told the pool of reporters, “It’s a very complicated subject. I remember how challenging it was for the Democrats when they were enacting this…Legislation of this complexity almost always takes longer than anybody hopes.”
The senate majority leader’s admission came after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released a grim report detailing the uphill battle Republicans will have trying to find a fix to Obamacare.
The CBO and JCT reported that if the Republicans’ healthcare bill becomes law it will result in 15 million people losing their health insurance next year, 19 million people losing their health insurance by time the 2020 presidential election comes around, and 22 million people losing their health insurance by 2026.
And of course, that is not the worst part. The worst part is the Medicaid voters, old folks who vote, would see a 26 % decrease in the amount of money going towards Medicaid.
Needless to say, this does not sit well with the voters. According to a recent Quinnipiac Poll of all voters, an overwhelming 71% of voters disapprove of taking money away from the Medicaid program compared to 24% of voters who are cool with the Medicaid program getting lesser money.
To put this in some context, the Democrats faced the same level of opposition in 2010 when they passed Obamacare.
Obamacare received 39.9% of the public support compared to 51.4% of the public’s disapproval.
As a result of Obamacare’s high unpopularity rating, the Democrats got what President Obama called a “shellacking” in the 2014 congressional races; which is also when the Republicans picked up enough seats to take control of both chambers of congress.
The final blow to the Democrat Party came in 2016 after former reality TV host Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
And with his win, the Republican Party solidified their control over the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.
So now, the Republicans are in the same position as their Democratic colleagues who, during the year 2010, controlled congress and the presidency.
If y’all are thinking déjà vu, y’all are correct. In fact, the CBO and JCT’s report made Senator Lindsey Graham so nervous about his party’s healthcare bill leading to a déjà vu that he warned the Republicans to not support Donald Trump, who called the bill “mean,” because he would throw them out to pasture like he did the House Republicans and their own senate mate Dean Heller (NV); who Donald Trump okayed an attack ad against because of his (Dean Heller) opposition to the Senate healthcare bill.
Therefore, it was only reasonable that upon hearing all of the bad news about their healthcare bill that the Senate Republicans ran away from their healthcare bill like it was a back-dated child support notice.
McConnell found himself four senators short, which is two more than he can afford to lose, of moving the “motion” forward to even get the bill on the floor of the senate for a vote.
Senators Susan Collins (ME), Dean Heller (NV), Rand Paul (KY), and Ron Johnson (WI) said “un, un, no dice” on voting for that motion.
Due to McConnell not having the votes to even bring the bill to the floor for a vote, he had to officially delay the vote on the bill for at least two weeks.
Where the Republicans go from here depends upon them. Republican Senators like Lisa Murkowski (AK) and John McCain (AZ) have said that their party must find a way to work with their Democratic colleagues.
Murkowski told MSNBC’s Garrett Haake, “we’re the congress of the United States…This is not for Republicans to fix or Democrats to fix. This is for us as Americans to fix…We should be working with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.”
However, McConnell has expressed doubt about working with the Democrats. After announcing the delay of the bill, McConnell said about working with his Democratic colleagues, “They’re not interested in participating with us.”
And it is true. Not many Democrats are interested in working with the Republicans because the Republicans gave them the same salty treatment that they gave the Republicans back in 2010 when the Democrats were working on Obamacare.
And now that the shoe is on the other foot, many within the Democratic Party are giving the Republicans the cold shoulder.
So yeah, the status of the healthcare bill is “complicated.” Can you say déjà vu?
comments powered by Disqus