House Speaker Paul Ryan can now send Zombie Trumpcare over to the Senate, three weeks after it was passed without a Congressional Budget Office score. Now that the score is in, it meets the requirements for budget reconciliation for the Senate to take it. But after that awful CBO score, some in the Senate don't want anything to do with it.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), one of the few Senate Republicans expected to face a tough reelection contest next year, said the House bill “does not do enough to address Nevada’s Medicaid population or protect Nevadans with pre-existing conditions.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) also criticized the House bill for failing to adequately protect Americans with pre-existing medical conditions.
“Congress’s focus must be to lower premiums with coverage which passes the Jimmy Kimmel Test,” Cassidy said in statement, referencing the late-night talk-show host who garnered national attention last month with his tearful monologue about his newborn’s heart surgery. “The AHCA does not. I am working with Senate colleagues to do so.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't offer an opinion, emerging from his shell to say that the CBO report was just a simple "procedural step" that would pave the way for the Senate to do its work. Which will actually be done by staff while the senators are off having their Memorial Day recess. And which will still likely gut Medicaid in order to give those big fat tax breaks to their buddies.
How much the secret Senate death panel meetings have accomplished isn't clear and it's kind of a surprise that they're getting down to the drafting already, since just Wednesday McConnell said that the path to 50 yes votes was unclear. Maybe he's decided to take the Ryan approach, and jam this through as quickly as he can, thinking he can twist 49 arms hard enough.
But that's a big chance, considering all the senators are going to be facing their constituents next week, with the brand-new CBO score fresh on their minds.