The schism that just made Trumpcare defeatable in the Senate
When members of Congress publicly say that they have “concerns” about a piece of legislation from their own majority party, or that they can’t support it in its “current form,” it usually means they’re willing to vote Yes if some things are changed to make the bill more to their liking. But when it comes to the Republican majority in the Senate and the Trumpcare AHCA bill, something fundamentally different is going on – and it’s made the bill defeatable.
The interesting part is that the verbiage here is largely the usual stuff. Four extremist Republican Senators, including Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, are saying they have concerns about it. In short they want Trumpcare to be more vicious toward the poor and the middle class, Cruz because he wants the money to go to his wealthy donors, and Paul because he wants the poor to suffer for ideological reasons. Ordinarily, the Republican leadership could make the bill more vicious and win their votes. But then there’s the other extreme of the party.
Republican Senator Dean Heller, one of the relative moderates of the GOP, now says he can’t support it because it’s too evil toward the poor and middle class. So the GOP can’t get Heller’s vote unless it makes the bill less horrible. But it can’t get Cruz’s or Paul’s vote unless it makes the bill more horrible. And in fact making the bill more horrible would cause other relative moderates like Susan Collins to come out publicly against it.
This is why Trumpcare is defeatable in the Senate. There are only fifty-two Republican Senators to begin with, and they’re having trouble finding a midpoint at which fifty of them will vote Yes. The GOP still might find the sweet spot of making Trumpcare just the right amount of evil in order to pass it. But if you keep calling the moderate Republicans in the Senate and letting them know that you’ll work to defeat them in the next election if they vote yes on any variation of this monstrosity, you can help make it harder for the GOP leadership to find those fifty votes. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report
