On Wednesday morning, Senate Democratic members thought that a last ditch effort by Republicans to gut the ACA likely wouldn’t go very far. All of that has changed in the last twenty four hours as Republicans quickly shifted from offering thoughts & prayers to Hurricane Harvey & Irma victims to moving to take away their healthcare.
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The bill proposed by and named after Sens. Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Dean Heller, and Ron Johnson would send most federal funding for healthcare programs like Medicaid to individual states in the form of a lump sum.
Republicans are facing an end-of-September deadline to pass healthcare-related legislation through the budget-reconciliation process, which allows them to move measures with a simple-majority vote. Recent developments have increased the chance that Republicans are close to 50 "yes" votes. (Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate.)
Republicans believe there is a last minute need to destroy ACA by making one last stab at it.
Republican leadership has made news by repeatedly saying that the destruction caused by Hurricanes made now in inopportune time to talk about climate change or to politicize rescue funding for Texas and Florida.
While it may not be the time to talk about those economic impacts, Republicans are dead set on quickly moving ahead with another plan that lacks any CBO score or any real plan on how it will impact the economic outcomes of areas already dealing with body blows.
Republicans have indicated to donors and the press they believe there is a path to fifty votes with their current plan, though Sen. Murkowski (R-AL) and Collins (R-ME) will likely remain opposed, as the bill has the same problematic sections regarding Medicaid.
While thousands of Americans rebuild their lives and communities, it appears Republican Thoughts and Prayers include a new twist: taking away access to healthcare to boot.