The dead giveaway that Donald Trump and the House GOP don’t expect the AHCA to survive the Senate
The Republican majority in the House of Representatives narrowly voted to repeal Obamacare today and replace it with the fatally flawed AHCA, which would result in tens of millions of Americans immediately losing their existing health insurance. Naturally, Donald Trump loudly cheered them on. But then they went on to reveal that they don’t think the AHCA will survive the upcoming Senate vote.
Donald Trump invited the House Republicans over to the White House after the vote today, and they held a victory celebration out in the Rose Garden. This wasn’t merely Trump and the House GOP celebrating the passage of their own bill so they could feel good about it; this was a staged publicity stunt. They wanted to make a point of saying “We did it!” to anyone who will listen. If they thought this bill had a good chance of surviving the Senate, they’d be waiting to hold a public celebration event until after that vote. Instead, this is them hoisting a victory trophy at halftime, with the score still roughly tied tied, because they expect the second-half players on their own team to lose.
Not that the defeat of the AHCA in the Senate is a given, because it’s not, and you’d better fight for its defeat like people’s lives depend on it, because they do. But there’s a reason the House GOP rammed through this terrible bill today, which some of them have admitted they didn’t even bother to read first. The Republicans spent years bluffing by insisting they could replace Obamacare with something better if only they were given the chance. And when Trump shockingly won, the Republicans were suddenly given a chance they didn’t really want – and now they’re caught with their pants down.
If the AHCA does become law, moderate and swing voters will learn the hard way that it’s worse than Obamacare by every measure, and they’ll punish the Republicans for it in the midterms. But if the Republicans don’t repeal Obamacare, conservative voters will feel cheated out of what they were promised, and they’ll punish the Republicans in the midterms. It’s a no-win situation for the GOP, and someone has to be left holding the bag.
By ramming through this awful Obamacare replacement today, the House Republicans can go into the midterms saying ‘We successfully voted to repeal Obamacare, don’t blame us, blame the Senate for not getting its act together.’ So this is a way for some Republicans to dump the problem on other Republicans, because they’re all that deeply backed into a corner over this. But that’s part of what makes this so dangerous for everyone involved, including you.
The ridiculously awful nature of the AHCA means it probably won’t pass the Senate; only three Republicans out of 52 have to vote no. But if it somehow does pass, then American health care goes off a cliff and millions of people are left for dead. So even though the House Republicans don’t expect the AHCA to pass, that doesn’t mean you can sit back and assume the same. After all, the Republican Party strategically got into bed with Donald Trump while safely thinking he would never win either. Call all one hundred Senators now at (202) 224-3121 and insist they vote the AHCA down. Help fund Palmer Report
