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Another day, another major media story about just how mad some Republicans are about how Mitch McConnell is proceeding on Trumpcare. What's missing from the story? What the senator intends to do about, presumably because the reporter didn't think to ask that question.
McConnell’s desire to wrap up before the Fourth of July recess reflects the sense of urgency among Republicans, including President Trump, to show progress on health care after years of vowing to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.
But McConnell’s strategy for achieving that goal — writing a bill with a handful of aides behind closed doors — has come at a cost that reached new heights on Tuesday: anger among Republicans who feel shut out of the process.
“Do you know what the health-care bill looks like?” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) asked reporters Tuesday, her frustration evident. “Because I don’t.” […]
“I’m hearing lots of conflicting information,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key centrist.
In a video he posted Tuesday afternoon on Facebook, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he had not seen the bill, despite being a part of the Senate GOP health-care working group.
“I’d be fine, don’t get me wrong, to be voting on something soon,” Lee said. “But we should be able to see it first.”
McConnell says he's going to release a discussion draft this Thursday morning, with an eye toward debate beginning Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and the vote Thursday. That'll take care of the complaint from these Republicans that they don't know what's going on and they'll happily move on to expressing their "concern" about premium costs, about how quickly or slowly Medicaid is destroyed, about what it might mean for the folks back home.
Conservatives will threaten to torpedo the bill and they will be taken very seriously by the traditional media, as will "moderate" Susan Collins (R-ME) who will furrow her brow and bleat sort of moderate-sounding things. McConnell will make some probably pre-determined tweaks to answer the concerns of one side or the other, changes that will allow them to say they looked out for the constituents and can now support the bill. Those changes will allow two senators to say that they can't in good conscience support this bill and McConnell will allow them to vote against it, bringing in Vice President Mike Pence to cast the 51st vote to pass it.
That's how it's mostly likely to play out, unless someone holds the grumbling Republicans to account for their protests. Constituents can and have been doing that with letters and emails and phone calls and need to keep doing it. But very few of these Republicans are talking directly to their constituents, so we need some help here. We need all those reporters to ask one question of every bitching Republican: What are you doing about it?