Senate Democrats Need To Go Nuclear On Trumpcare Right Now [View all]

[red dog 1]

Source:
The New Republic


Senate Democrats need to go nuclear on Trumpcare right now.
Senate Republicans are working to fast-track a health care bill in utmost secrecy before the
July 4 recess.

It's clear that the bill - which is shaping up to be as disastrous as the House-passed
American Health Care Act - won't be let out of the dungeon until the very last second to avoid scrutiny.
Republicans aren't planning to hold any hearings and they won't publicly release a draft of the bill because, as one senior GOP aide told Axios, "We aren't stupid."

If Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority want to pass a bill taking away health insurance from some 20 million Americans, there isn't much that Democrats can do about it in the end.
But they can delay the process - and activists are pushing them to do just that.
Groups like Indivisible and MoveOn want Democrats to withhold consent - a parliamentary maneuver that slows down Senate business - to trip up McConnell.

According to Jeff Stein at Vox, Senate Democrats don't have any current plans to do so.
They argue that "going nuclear" would only unify Republicans in their resolve and would, at most, stall the inevitable by a few weeks.

But those few weeks can be vital.
When the House passed the AHCA in May, speed was of the essence: Activists were caught flat-footed and were unable to put pressure on House members in full force.
The political theater of Senate Democrats making a last stand to defeat the bill would help garner more publicity for that effort.
More importantly, it would shine a light on what Republicans are doing:
They are jamming through a massive overhaul of the health care system IN SECRET, one that will likely kick millions of Americans off their health insurance, literally leaving some people to die by 2018.

More + links:
http://newrepublic.com/minutes/143300/senate-democrats-need-go-nuclear-trumpcare-right-now


"TRUMPCARE: Tell Democrats to shut down the Senate now"
http://act.democracyforamerica.com/sign/shut-down-the-senate-trumpcare/