Tuesday is National Death to TrumpCare Day. Call 866-426-2631 and be a lifesaver.
Despite little evidence of that it’s swaying anyone, Trump’s White House wants a vote on the new, even more deadly version of TrumpCare this week and it could come down to just a few votes.
We explained why on this week’s The Sit and Spin Room but here’s one tweet that reveals exactly how this nightmare becomes a law:
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) says he’s “leaning toward” yes on AHCA mainly to get it to the Senate. “I would hope it gets changed over there.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 1, 2017
King alleges he cares about Medicaid expansion and hopes that Republicans from expansion states will help preserve it, which is madness.
The bill King may vote yay on doesn’t just end up gutting Medicaid expansion. It also shrinks Medicaid to levels below where it would be at without the Affordable Care Act, to help fund extra tax breaks for the rich. In the Senate, Republicans only need 50 votes to pass TrumpCare — and we know Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz would almost certainly vote together to block any bill that keeps any vestige of Medicaid expansion. That would be enough to kill the bill.
A Senate that confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education has 50 votes for anything that pleases billionaire donors.
So this is what King and every other Republican is voting for and more or less what they should expect to become law:
This is what President Trump is supporting as our new health care system. pic.twitter.com/EIjhZRyZSP
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) May 1, 2017
Which is why it’s on:
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY TOMORROW TO DESTROY TRUMPCARE. Call 866-426-2631. Use https://t.co/3XvofXuTE9
Pls RT
Here’s the remaining undecideds: pic.twitter.com/uW4UKsBCtm
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) May 1, 2017
Call and let anyone you know who is in a Republican district or might know someone in a Republican district to call. As Rep. Dan Kildee told us, it’s callers from red areas who killed TrumpCare the first time.
The pressure is on Republicans in swing districts who have been hung out to rot with this fetid bill by Trump and Speaker Ryan who have all the power of the executive and legislative branches to force them to give in and let the Senate rush it cram it into law in just a few days.
Trump is all over the media lying, refusing to admit that his bill destroys protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.
You know who doesn’t believe him?
Tea Partying Trump-supporter Rep. Billy Long, who came out against the bill today because it allows states to end community rating, which would effectively restore discrimination against sick Americans. Both Trump and Ryan have tried to sway the Missouri Congressman who is still firm.
Why?
Maybe because he understands what this bill would do to American families because his grown daughter was diagnosed in 2015 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
There isn’t one patients advocacy group in America supporting this sewage formed into legislation, which will make our health care system far worse than it was even before the ACA. The latest changes could even savage the employer-based coverage that most Americans rely on removing essential benefits and protections against catastrophic costs.
I repeat: This nightmare could easily become law.
The good news is that if the White House fails in this latest effort, it may actually be forced to move on, whether it likes it or not.
“This is it,” said an administration official told Politico. “We get it done now, or we don’t get it done ever.”
We need to be the voice of tens of millions of Americans who will be battered by this bill. We’ve got to make sure it that it doesn’t get done — ever.
[Image by Mike Licht | Flickr]
