Trumpcare Megathread: It's dead (for now)

[Yank2133]

Politically, is it better for the GOP that this bill didn't pass and they don't have to deal with the massive downsides of Skinny Repeal?

It is better that they didn't pass this bill.

Granted, house R's still have the AHCA vote around their necks.

[TheSaint250]

If Mitch were smarter he would take a hint and move on to tax reform, but that's too much to ask.

What's the next step being reported in the news?

[Tartarus Sauce]

Politically, is it better for the GOP that this bill didn't pass and they don't have to deal with the massive downsides of Skinny Repeal?

Voting it down will lessen the potential damage during a general election, but will hurt in primaries. That being said, Murkowski, Collins, and McCain are the three Republicans that care the least about primary challengers of the GOP senate caucus at the moment. Net result is a downturn in base enthusiasm which could hurt them in the midterms, but not as much as they would have been burned by swing voters if they had passed the legislation.

Also, Trump throwing a tempter tantrum and gunning for the defectors could get really nasty and who knows what stupid sh**t he will do that will screw everything up. He might decide to withold payouts to insurance companies out of spite in which case the health insurance markets will collapse anyway.

[The Ex-Factor]

Politically, is it better for the GOP that this bill didn't pass and they don't have to deal with the massive downsides of Skinny Repeal?

Voting it down will lessen the potential damage during a general election, but will hurt in primaries. That being said, Murkowski, Collins, and McCain are the three Republicans that care the least about primary challengers of the GOP senate caucus at the moment. Net result is a downturn in base enthusiasm which could hurt them in the midterms, but not as much as they would have been burned by swing voters if they had passed the legislation.

Also, Trump throwing a tempter tantrum and gunning for the defectors could get really nasty and who knows what stupid sh**t he will do that will screw everything up. He might decide to withold payouts to insurance companies out of spite in which case the health insurance markets will collapse anyway.

Yeah, I think the lesson learned here is that Senators who are political institutions in their states (Murkowski, Collins, McCain) are more likely to go against the party, probably because they are less afraid of the far right. For relative newbies such as Flake, Heller, Capito and so forth, they can be cowered into submission.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

The Orange clown's take

3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

[ProudModerate2]

Ding, Dong the wicked bill is dead !

[Matty]

TD, honest question, you do realize the fundamental problems of healthcare would have been the same no matter which republican got into office, don't you?

Are you under the impression that if another GOP president was in office, ryan and McConnell would have crafted different legislation?

Instead of blaming trump for every problem under the sun, maybe some of your vitriol can be cast towards the actual people in the legislature who crafted the legislation.

How would healthcare reform have been different if rubio were president? Would CBO scores of repealing the mandate be different? Would the fundamental problems be different? Would the laws congress have inherited be different?

[Santander]

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What kind of a cuck Governor grovels? Disgusting.

[Matty]

TD, honest question, you do realize the fundamental problems of healthcare would have been the same no matter which republican got into office, don't you?

Are you under the impression that if another GOP president was in office, ryan and McConnell would have crafted different legislation?

Instead of blaming trump for every problem under the sun, maybe some of your vitriol can be cast towards the actual people in the legislature who crafted the legislation.

How would healthcare reform have been different if rubio were president? Would CBO scores of repealing the mandate be different? Would the fundamental problems be different? Would the laws congress have inherited be different?

To start with - the President's election started the death knell of this issue. Remember, he ran behind every GOP Senator. If he had won 51-46% instead of losing 48-46%, he could have credibly told the GOP Congress, "I carried you." Instead they carried him and we know that they have the leverage, not him.

Second, there was a better way. The President could have acted with leadership and crafted a better bill and pushed it. You know that as well as I do that the Congress was looking to the White House for leadership and we have floundered because they didn't provide it. Ryan and McConnell would have worked with the White House, and passed something.

We could have spent the last six months crafting an alternative to ObamaCare and owned the issue of healthcare. We could have put through the committee process. We could have improved the law and done tax reform first. Who knows?

To say nothing of the way two of the three no votes were treated - McCain, insulted, Murkowski's state threatened when she had clear leverage as a 2010 write in? 

Answer me this -- does not the President bear responsibility for his abdication of leadership and inability to lead Congress and the country on this issue? If you can't believe Trump is not responsible for the debacle of the last six months, if you're going to pretend Presidential leadership doesn't matter, then you don't really understand why the last six months went the way it did.

The fact the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee was the deciding vote against this speaks volumes.

Dude, the gop congress had 7 YEARS to come up with something. They need a reality tv star to do it for them?

The gop of crafting legislation lies in the house of representatives. Period.

How can you not put at least SOME blame on congressional republicans?

[uti2]

Second, there was a better way. The President could have acted with leadership and crafted a better bill and pushed it. You know that as well as I do that the Congress was looking to the White House for leadership and we have floundered because they didn't provide it. Ryan and McConnell would have worked with the White House, and passed something.

We could have spent the last six months crafting an alternative to ObamaCare and owned the issue of healthcare. We could have put through the committee process. We could have improved the law and done tax reform first. Who knows?

To say nothing of the way two of the three no votes were treated - McCain, insulted, Murkowski's state threatened when she had clear leverage as a 2010 write in? 

Answer me this -- does not the President bear responsibility for his abdication of leadership and inability to lead Congress and the country on this issue? If you can't believe Trump is not responsible for the debacle of the last six months, if you're going to pretend Presidential leadership doesn't matter, then you don't really understand why the last six months went the way it did.

The fact the 2008 Republican Presidential nominee was the deciding vote against this speaks volumes.

If you're talking about a hypothetical Republican president with a track record of leadership and experience, then that only works in the context of an experienced governor with a proven track record and longstanding political connections. So, Jeb or Kasich (+maybe Walker?). An inexperienced first-term senator would've helped on that front how?

[Crumpets]

Tonight, Donald Trump became President.

[Matty]

TD, here is something I will guarantee: If tax reform ends up being a success, you will find a way to not give some credit to the prez.

[uti2]

TD, here is something I will guarantee: If tax reform ends up being a success, you will find a way to not give some credit to the prez.

No I've actually said that tax reform will pass and the President will probably succeed in this endeavor. I've said that before on the boards. He knows a little more on tax reform than he does healthcare. He's an idiot but every idiot president manages some sort of accomplishment. although it'd be a tax cut at this point rather than tax reform.

That was also the other problem. Nobody in the WH or the leadership knows anything about healthcare.

However, notably, Marty, you refuse to not ding the White House for this healthcare failure. Why not?

Curiously, Reagan's infamous 1986 tax reform plan was actually crafted by Democrats.

It was the Bradley-Gephardt bill.

[Matty]

TD, here is something I will guarantee: If tax reform ends up being a success, you will find a way to not give some credit to the prez.

No I've actually said that tax reform will pass and the President will probably succeed in this endeavor. I've said that before on the boards. He knows a little more on tax reform than he does healthcare. He's an idiot but every idiot president manages some sort of accomplishment. although it'd be a tax cut at this point rather than tax reform.

That was also the other problem. Nobody in the WH or the leadership knows anything about healthcare.

However, notably, Marty, you refuse to not ding the White House for this healthcare failure. Why not?

I ding both the WH and the congress. They had 7 years to have a bill ready to pass and for the prez to sign and they didn't. Why is that? Paul Ryan is a supposed policy wonk.

[The Mikado]

Worth pointing out: Maggie Hassan beat Kelly Ayotte by 1,000 votes.

Flip that race, and ACA is toast.

[publicunofficial]

It'd be awesome if McConnell is forced out of leadership because of this.

[Kringla Heimsins]

Wow, I just woke up and... McCain did the right thing and stood up against the GOP?

[Gustaf]

Wow, I just woke up and... McCain did the right thing and stood up against the GOP?

Yup and it also seems like he deliberately did it in a way to humiliate them thoroughly, wrecking it last minute when they thought they had the votes.

The Southwest remembers.

[Middle-aged Europe]

He probably figured that he won't be a senator for that much longer, so it's better to go out with a bang.

[mvd10]

Anyway, Trump is much more interested in tax reform than health reform so I guess you can expect more WH leadership on tax reform. But with 52 senate seats health reform always was going to be (a very damaging) skinny repeal or nothing. Maybe they could have passed comprehensive healthcare reform with 250+ house seats, 54+ senate seats and someone more competent in the WH, and even then I don't see Republicans passing a good healthcare bill since they're hellbent at repealing some measures that are necessary to keep the whole thing together (read: the individual mandate).

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump's already revising his personal reality to make it so he didn't lose last night.


It's so familiar, it's like it's straight out of a fairy tale.
 

[Gass3268]

To everyone talking about them getting a win on tax reform, they've already given up the idea of using reconciliation. Gonna need to get 8 Democrats to pass something. Also I guarantee that there are more that 3 Republicans who would vote to prevent going nuclear if that was pushed. There are too many old-timers.

[Person Man]

So they have to start over at this point?

[mgop]

gop should really expel mccain. anyway after next year senate elections republicans will have at least 57 seats, so trumpcare will easily pass.

[Middle-aged Europe]

gop should really expel mccain. anyway after next year senate elections republicans will have at least 57 seats, so trumpcare will easily pass.

Cool story, bro.