After Senate Republicans voted to proceed Tuesday afternoon on the repeal of Obamacare, GOP leaders touted the move as the “beginning” of a long, open process to repeal and replace the health care law.
“This is just the beginning,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters during a brief press conference after the vote. “We’re not out here to spike the football.”
McConnell said he expects the Senate to finish debating on the legislation by the end of the week, but he would not provide details about which bills or amendments would be offered on the floor. He said that it’s “impossible to predict” what will happen in such a process.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, referenced what he said was an “important message” in Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) speech after the motion to proceed vote, in which he called for bipartisanship. Cornyn called on Democrats to help build a bipartisan health care bill, arguing that “could be the beginning of that healing process” for a “polarized” institution.
And trump will use the moment to claim he’s been vindicated from the russia witch hunt… oh wait never mind. Time for another rose garden kegger…get john mccain a beer bong…
Right. Like any democratic amendment would be passed. Cornyn, clowning it for the fake bipartisanship bullshit soundbite.
After 7 + years of GOP Senators claiming they had a great plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, and months of wrangling in both houses of Congress, they’ve now arrived at “the beginning?”
More like they’re stuck spinning their wheels in a muddy cul-de-sac of their own making.
Which is why they were only able to win this motion to proceed once it became clear that neither Trumpcare 3.0, nor Trump-Cruzcare, nor “Clean Repeal,” could actually pass.
And which is why they had to float this pathetic “Skinny Repeal” approach to reassure their own wavering members that they wouldn’t have to make any real decisions anytime soon.
“This is just the beginning,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters during a brief press conference…
You got that shit right, and you’re going to rue the day asshole.
What bill are Democrats supposed to help develop? The bill isn’t published anywhere…as far as I can tell it’s barely a concept, maybe not even written down yet. Why would the Democrats believe they will be allowed to participate, since they haven’t in any way to this point? The Democrats did offer to start a bipartisan process to fix the issues with Obamacare, and instead are thrown into a vote on a secret bill to repeal Obamacare, with the Republicans flying a senator across the country to eke out the vote. How is any of this reasonable? And the vote on the bill is going to happen later this week? Where is the CBO score on the millions that will lose their health care?
Democrats should put forward amendments to fix Obamacare issues, to improve health access, and to put senators onto Obamacare…as they all get shot down, the reason why Democrats aren’t voting for the bill will become apparent, both because of the lack of bipartisanship by Republicans and the meanness of the bill itself.