From Sen. Patty Murray: "In 2017, don't ask me how I'm doing,

[pnwmom]

4. Do you think that nothing's real unless it's in front of a TV camera?

Among other things, Patty Murray is preparing to fight for Obamacare, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/meet-the-dems-who-will-defend-obamacare

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will be taking over minority leadership from Harry Reid (D-NV), the top Democrat in the Senate since 2005 who retired this year.

But the Democrats who Senate aides and outside observers say will lead the charge against GOP efforts to destroy Obamacare are no strangers to health policy, or the hardball politics that surround it. They are Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) (pictured left), the ranking member of the Finance Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) (pictured center), who leads the Democrats on HELP. Wyden and Murray were in the Senate when Obamacare passed and have faced off with Republicans over the role of government in health care since. Additionally, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) (pictured center), who was elected to the Senate in 2012, is also expected to play a public role in defending the law.

Given that Republicans are hellbent on repealing Obamacare and have the seats in the Senate to do it, Democrats face a daunting challenge in stopping them, under a President Trump, from dismantling President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. GOP congressional leaders have said it will be their first order of business when they come back to the new Congress next month, while signaling that they’ll use reconciliation, a procedural maneuver that requires only majority approval, to side step a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Democrats are united in opposing the repeal measure, but the thornier territory comes after repeal, if chaos ensues in the insurance markets, as health policy experts are predicting, and Republicans pressure Democrats to help them replace it. Twenty-three Senate Democrats (plus two independents who caucus with Democrats) will be up for re-election in 2018 -- 10 of them in states that voted for Trump this year. The GOP is hoping they’ll be able pick up votes for an eventual ACA alternative among those vulnerable Democrats, or at least, blame them if a replacement is never implemented.