The pasty white boys club working on Trumpcare had it's first working meeting Tuesday to talk about Medicaid. They did allow a little lady, West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito, to joint them this time because Medicaid is kind of important to her state. But she's most definitely not a full member. Nor are any other women, yet. Supposedly the White House intends to see “those optics addressed,” but I wouldn’t recommend holding your breath.
Mr. McConnell’s decision to include himself and his top three lieutenants—but not Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski or more junior women Republicans like Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia—speaks volumes about his direction and has raised eyebrows.
"The leaders have the right to choose whomever they wish," Ms. Collins said Monday. "It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to work on health care.
"I’ve worked on health care for many years," she continued. "I spent five years in state government overseeing the Bureau of Insurance many years ago, and I think I can bring some experience to the debate that will be helpful."
By excluding Ms. Collins and Mr. Cassidy, perhaps viewed as potential troublemakers for the bill, Senate leaders may have inadvertently created a dangerous alliance. The two senators now have no obligation to fall in line behind the working group’s final product and will almost surely continue to work on their own ideas. Together, they and their allies could hold near-veto power.
There's absolutely no way McConnell is going to get any help from Democrats. That puts this group of spurned senators in a potentially powerful position. There's more than enough of them to derail the effort if they hang tough. McConnell is clearly going for a bill that will pass the House—he's working with Freedom Caucus maniac Rep. Mark Meadows—and assuming he's going to be able to strong-arm it through his conference.
The fact that he's working with a House maniac and not his own senators should be enough reason for them to line up against the bill. That and the fact that he put a Senate maniac—Ted Cruz—on the team rather than someone who might have a bit of insight on, oh, I don't know, what it's like to have a uterus? The composition of this working group is evidence enough that McConnell is going to do everything in his power to pass a crappy Trumpcare bill.