Mitch McConnell still wants his TrumpCare

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-repeal-obamacare-election_us_5bc7893ce4b0d38b58748f19

Seriously, Mitch McConnell is like a petulant child on this. How many times do we have to tell him NO?!? Has he looked at none of the polls? Because if it isn't clear to him, the house will either be a very narrow GOP majority that doesn't have the votes to pass repeal (remember the current house only passed it 217-213), or an outright Dem Majority.

Seriously Mitch, get a new hobby.

[Progressive Pessimist]

He's getting cocky. He has no reason not to be, though. He has gotten away with everything he has ever done. He is one of American history's greatest crooks.

[IceSpear]

He's getting cocky. He has no reason not to be, though. He has gotten away with everything he has ever done. He is one of American history's greatest crooks.

This. Nobody has told him "no" because Republicans have yet to lose an election. In fact, his Senate majority is more likely to expand than it is to contract.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

He's getting cocky. He has no reason not to be, though. He has gotten away with everything he has ever done. He is one of American history's greatest crooks.

This. Nobody has told him "no" because Republicans have yet to lose an election. In fact, his Senate majority is more likely to expand than it is to contract.

He's been told No each of the 100+ times Rs have tried and failed to repeal this. They'll fail again in 2019 with whatever the new house situation is.

[Donald Trump’s Toupée]

Someone please tell me how Obamacare survives after the repeal of the individual mandate?

[7,052,770]

Someone please tell me how Obamacare survives after the repeal of the individual mandate?

For starters, its thousands of pages long, and only dozens of those are in any way controversial.

Second, the Exchanges provide subsidized insurance to millions of Americans, and it would be political suicide to get rid of those.

At best, they might be able to let insurers charge more to people for their pre-existing conditions (and give everyone else lower rates), but even Ted Cruz doesn't support that anymore.

[President Johnson]

Go on with this, Mitch, it only helps Democrats.

Next time Democrats have a trifecta, they pass medicare for all. It will happen, it's only a matter of time.

[Beet]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-repeal-obamacare-election_us_5bc7893ce4b0d38b58748f19

Seriously, Mitch McConnell is like a petulant child on this. How many times do we have to tell him NO?!? Has he looked at none of the polls? Because if it isn't clear to him, the house will either be a very narrow GOP majority that doesn't have the votes to pass repeal (remember the current house only passed it 217-213), or an outright Dem Majority.

Seriously Mitch, get a new hobby.

Perhaps, but those who voted against it in the House may have done so out of a fear of a Democratic wave. If the Republicans keep a majority in the House, those that remain will largely be more conservative and perhaps they will feel if they survived 2018 they don't have to worry. In any case, they will have 2 years to piece together a majority for repeal, and if Trump is re-elected another 4 years to pass bills.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-repeal-obamacare-election_us_5bc7893ce4b0d38b58748f19

Seriously, Mitch McConnell is like a petulant child on this. How many times do we have to tell him NO?!? Has he looked at none of the polls? Because if it isn't clear to him, the house will either be a very narrow GOP majority that doesn't have the votes to pass repeal (remember the current house only passed it 217-213), or an outright Dem Majority.

Seriously Mitch, get a new hobby.

Perhaps, but those who voted against it in the House may have done so out of a fear of a Democratic wave. If the Republicans keep a majority in the House, those that remain will largely be more conservative and perhaps they will feel if they survived 2018 they don't have to worry. In any case, they will have 2 years to piece together a majority for repeal, and if Trump is re-elected another 4 years to pass bills.

In a situation where Republicans keep the house, there's at least 8 No votes that would more likely than not still be there:

Donovan
Fitzpatrick
Herrera Beutler
Hurd
Katko
Lance
Smith (NJ)
Turner

Considering the likely size of a new GOP majority (220-215 or thereabouts), those 8 votes would be more than enough to kill it. And to your "Dem Wave Freakout" Hint, remember the atmosphere of May 2017. Democrats were in the middle of losing that long string of special elections, and no one with an ounce of intelligence believed the house was truly in play in 2018.

[Person Man]

I suspected the house would be in play in 2017.

[IceSpear]

Any of the #populists want to explain what's so #populist about Trumpcare, or Trump himself for that matter? Is it the racism? The pandering to angry white people? Because I'm pretty sure taking a hatchet to the healthcare of the "WWC" doesn't really qualify...

[Beet]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-repeal-obamacare-election_us_5bc7893ce4b0d38b58748f19

Seriously, Mitch McConnell is like a petulant child on this. How many times do we have to tell him NO?!? Has he looked at none of the polls? Because if it isn't clear to him, the house will either be a very narrow GOP majority that doesn't have the votes to pass repeal (remember the current house only passed it 217-213), or an outright Dem Majority.

Seriously Mitch, get a new hobby.

Perhaps, but those who voted against it in the House may have done so out of a fear of a Democratic wave. If the Republicans keep a majority in the House, those that remain will largely be more conservative and perhaps they will feel if they survived 2018 they don't have to worry. In any case, they will have 2 years to piece together a majority for repeal, and if Trump is re-elected another 4 years to pass bills.

In a situation where Republicans keep the house, there's at least 8 No votes that would more likely than not still be there:

Donovan
Fitzpatrick
Herrera Beutler
Hurd
Katko
Lance
Smith (NJ)
Turner

Considering the likely size of a new GOP majority (220-215 or thereabouts), those 8 votes would be more than enough to kill it. And to your "Dem Wave Freakout" Hint, remember the atmosphere of May 2017. Democrats were in the middle of losing that long string of special elections, and no one with an ounce of intelligence believed the house was truly in play in 2018.

In May 2017 people were already taking about the Democrats taking the House.

If the Republicans hold the House by 5, and you are counting on 8 "no" votes, that means you are betting that the Republican Speaker in this era of polarization and party discipline can't muster up the political pressure to flip 3 votes to "yes" over 2 years. That is very unlikely.

[Person Man]

Any of the #populists want to explain what's so #populist about Trumpcare, or Trump himself for that matter?

Its gonna be a pro-worker law! Just like Rught To Work! Seriously. You can't think of anything more pro-worker than that!

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-repeal-obamacare-election_us_5bc7893ce4b0d38b58748f19

Seriously, Mitch McConnell is like a petulant child on this. How many times do we have to tell him NO?!? Has he looked at none of the polls? Because if it isn't clear to him, the house will either be a very narrow GOP majority that doesn't have the votes to pass repeal (remember the current house only passed it 217-213), or an outright Dem Majority.

Seriously Mitch, get a new hobby.

Perhaps, but those who voted against it in the House may have done so out of a fear of a Democratic wave. If the Republicans keep a majority in the House, those that remain will largely be more conservative and perhaps they will feel if they survived 2018 they don't have to worry. In any case, they will have 2 years to piece together a majority for repeal, and if Trump is re-elected another 4 years to pass bills.

In a situation where Republicans keep the house, there's at least 8 No votes that would more likely than not still be there:

Donovan
Fitzpatrick
Herrera Beutler
Hurd
Katko
Lance
Smith (NJ)
Turner

Considering the likely size of a new GOP majority (220-215 or thereabouts), those 8 votes would be more than enough to kill it. And to your "Dem Wave Freakout" Hint, remember the atmosphere of May 2017. Democrats were in the middle of losing that long string of special elections, and no one with an ounce of intelligence believed the house was truly in play in 2018.

In May 2017 people were already taking about the Democrats taking the House.

If the Republicans hold the House by 5, and you are counting on 8 "no" votes, that means you are betting that the Republican Speaker in this era of polarization and party discipline can't muster up the political pressure to flip 3 votes to "yes" over 2 years. That is very unlikely.

From 220-215:

1 No Vote: 219-216
2 No Votes: 218-217
3 No Votes: 217-218 *FAILURE*

So actually I'm counting on less than half of the Nos coming through in this scenario.

[Beet]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-repeal-obamacare-election_us_5bc7893ce4b0d38b58748f19

Seriously, Mitch McConnell is like a petulant child on this. How many times do we have to tell him NO?!? Has he looked at none of the polls? Because if it isn't clear to him, the house will either be a very narrow GOP majority that doesn't have the votes to pass repeal (remember the current house only passed it 217-213), or an outright Dem Majority.

Seriously Mitch, get a new hobby.

Perhaps, but those who voted against it in the House may have done so out of a fear of a Democratic wave. If the Republicans keep a majority in the House, those that remain will largely be more conservative and perhaps they will feel if they survived 2018 they don't have to worry. In any case, they will have 2 years to piece together a majority for repeal, and if Trump is re-elected another 4 years to pass bills.

In a situation where Republicans keep the house, there's at least 8 No votes that would more likely than not still be there:

Donovan
Fitzpatrick
Herrera Beutler
Hurd
Katko
Lance
Smith (NJ)
Turner

Considering the likely size of a new GOP majority (220-215 or thereabouts), those 8 votes would be more than enough to kill it. And to your "Dem Wave Freakout" Hint, remember the atmosphere of May 2017. Democrats were in the middle of losing that long string of special elections, and no one with an ounce of intelligence believed the house was truly in play in 2018.

In May 2017 people were already taking about the Democrats taking the House.

If the Republicans hold the House by 5, and you are counting on 8 "no" votes, that means you are betting that the Republican Speaker in this era of polarization and party discipline can't muster up the political pressure to flip 3 votes to "yes" over 2 years. That is very unlikely.

From 220-215:

1 No Vote: 219-216
2 No Votes: 218-217
3 No Votes: 217-218 *FAILURE*

So actually I'm counting on less than half of the Nos coming through in this scenario.

You are counting votes months ahead of time for legislation that hasn't even been proposed. You're also assuming who will survive and who won't. House leaders can easily flip votes from "no" to "yes" simply by modifying the bill to suit particular members' needs. Take the vote over CAFTA:

"After the required two hours of debate, only 15 minutes are allotted for a vote. During those 15 minutes, CAFTA was defeated, 175 in favor to 180 opposed. CAFTA proponents were so determined to pass the bill, however, that they held the vote opened for nearly an hour, a blatant violation of the rules. It has been widely reported that during this hour, Republicans pressured about 8 to 10 members and, according to the New York Times, "jockeyed over who would be allowed to vote against the bill and save face back home." The final vote, taken after midnight, was 217-215."

The NY Times reported that many Republicans who badly wanted to vote against it were pressured into voting for it. This is over the course of just 1 hour for already written legislation.

Trump will get on his phone, and say "Vote for the bill or you'll be known as the Congressperson who held it up, and I'll endorse your opponent as blocking the Trump agenda" and it'll be over. Period.

[PragmaticPopulist]

They'll never learn that once you've given something to the American people, they aren't gonna let you take it away. It just makes it more popular.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

They'll never learn that once you've given something to the American people, they aren't gonna let you take it away. It just makes it more popular.

A lot of Republicans were saying that before Obamacare was passed - "We can't let this pass!  People will like it so much we'll never be able to repeal it!"  They said it about Obamacare and they'll say the same thing about single-payer.

[Donald Trump’s Toupée]

So it was alright for Obama to push through Obamacare on a completely partisan basis using the power he had with both chambers of Congress in 2009 and 2010, but it was not alright for Trump to push through Kavanaugh on a partisan basis (bar Manchin) using the power he had with Congress in 2018.

Additionally both Obamacare and Kavanaugh were divisive issues, and neither were popular with the electorate at the time.

So when Obama pushed through his agenda, it was fine by the Democrats, but when Trump did likewise, there must be a violent mob of protesters, and claims of (false) illegality. Okay.

[Progressive Pessimist]

So it was alright for Obama to push through Obamacare on a completely partisan basis using the power he had with both chambers of Congress in 2009 and 2010, but it was not alright for Trump to push through Kavanaugh on a partisan basis (bar Manchin) using the power he had with Congress in 2018.

Additionally both Obamacare and Kavanaugh were divisive issues, and neither were popular with the electorate at the time.

So when Obama pushed through his agenda, it was fine by the Democrats, but when Trump did likewise, there must be a violent mob of protesters, and claims of (false) illegality. Okay.

Not equivalent! Obama had a much larger governing mandate, still faced division within his own party, and had to compromise in order to accomplish what he wanted to. In the Senate the GOP  are more united as they cling to a narrow majority under a President that lost the popular vote and barely won the three states that delivered him the win. And with all of that in mind, they stubbornly pursue policies and actions that are unpopular with the majority of Americans and ignore transparency and proper procedure to do so.
Obama was willing to be practical and meet the other side halfway, to address their's and the average American's concerns and doubts so that divisions wouldn't occur, even as he had a governing trifecta at that time. Trump and the GOP meanwhile have a weaker trifecta, and cynically agree that they don't give two f***s  about the larger group of Americans that don't support them, thus sewing and exacerbating those very divisions that are doing nearly irreparable damage to our country and its institutions.

[Indy Texas]

So it was alright for Obama to push through Obamacare on a completely partisan basis using the power he had with both chambers of Congress in 2009 and 2010, but it was not alright for Trump to push through Kavanaugh on a partisan basis (bar Manchin) using the power he had with Congress in 2018.

Additionally both Obamacare and Kavanaugh were divisive issues, and neither were popular with the electorate at the time.

So when Obama pushed through his agenda, it was fine by the Democrats, but when Trump did likewise, there must be a violent mob of protesters, and claims of (false) illegality. Okay.

Barack Obama made it very clear in his presidential campaign that he was going to pass a law that would expand access to health insurance. He won with 53% of the vote. And then he did just that.

Only 46% of Americans voted for Donald Trump, fewer than voted for Hillary Clinton. There is no popular mandate for the Republican agenda. 54% of American voters did not want Republican judges.

[Ban my account ffs!]

So it was alright for Obama to push through Obamacare on a completely partisan basis using the power he had with both chambers of Congress in 2009 and 2010, but it was not alright for Trump to push through Kavanaugh on a partisan basis (bar Manchin) using the power he had with Congress in 2018.

Additionally both Obamacare and Kavanaugh were divisive issues, and neither were popular with the electorate at the time.

So when Obama pushed through his agenda, it was fine by the Democrats, but when Trump did likewise, there must be a violent mob of protesters, and claims of (false) illegality. Okay.

You must not remember the mob of teabaggers that skittered out of the think tank board rooms, trailer parks, and retirement communities of America after Obamacare passed and screamed and yelled and wrapped American flags around themselves and said things like “keep yer tootin gubmint hands off muh medicare!”

I sure remember.  Obama sacrificed his entire agenda for Obamacare because of the coniption fit the Republicans threw.

[Joey1996]

The Republicans will at best have a net gain of +1 in the Senate and will likely lose the House. He isn't getting anything.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

There has long been a shared assumption on the right and the left that the ACA is a gateway to universal public coverage. It serves as fodder for both conservative paranoia and left-liberal folk legends. (It's almost as if neither group understands how the law works...) Democrats and Republicans alike are now drawing on a caricature of the ACA for the sake of mass politics.

It is true and as long money talks we will get the "best" system big pharma and the insurance companies can buy.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

There is no such thing as "Trumpcare" because there is no Republican health care plan. There hasn't been for ten years.

You cannot have a plan that is coherent when you have a large segment of your movement that is completely against "any federal role in healthcare" which of course is impossible since we already have so many government programs for health care and those are not going anywhere. On top of this you have a number of movement conservative types who regard health care as a luxury and that you should "get a job to get healthcare". The problem is health care is to preserve wellness and wellness is necessary to be able to get a job in the first place and to be productive in said jobs. Also wellness is not an expense that can be deferred without progressive and irreversible decline leading to and including death. Standard boilerplate about "government is bad" and "people need to get off their asses and work", just don't apply to health care the same way as it does other things.

There is a way to craft a conservative alternative that is a legitimate consideration, but the presence of money in politics and the nature of the conservative movements enforcement of doctrine and suppression of creative thinking stand in the way. You have to help people who cannot afford it, you have to ensure access to preventative medicine and you have to make sure that hospitals get paid so they don't close down. Beyond that it is perfectly possible to develop some kind of program that is largely state based and/or has elements of market competition in it.

The Republican Party is not a place to be able to do that though and neither is American Conservatism. One thing I do know though is that pretending a problem isn't real won't make it go away and if you don't solve it your way, some one will solve it there way. The failure of Republicans to approach this issue responsibly is probably the single greatest thing that is going to push us towards single payer, not Obamacare.

[Brittain33]

Senate Dems are beyond thrilled with McConnell changing the conversation to gutting healthcare.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/21/entitlements-mcconnell-manchin-midterms-920027