A Shameful Day

By a narrow 217 to 213 margin, Rethuglicans in the House passed their disgraceful bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. Twenty Rethuglicans voted against passage, fearing voters' retribution in the 2018 Congressional elections. As a sign of their mendacity, the Rethugs pushed the bill through without scoring by the Congressional Budget Office, which will report next week on its failure to cover millions of the most vulnerable Americans, while leaving coverage for pre-existing conditions up to states and with a puny high-risk pool. All this, so that they could give their wealthy benefactors a huge tax cut.  Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) had some choice words for the other side:

“To claim or to imply that the Republican plan covers people with preexisting conditions, it is a lie. It is a lie. And let’s be honest about it. This does not cover people with preexisting conditions. And to come on the floor and say it does, to try to fool people, well, you may get away with it in the short term, you may get a headline but I tell you people will figure out soon enough when they are denied health care coverage......You should be ashamed. To have a health care bill that cuts Medicaid by $880 billion so you can give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in this country, you should be ashamed.”

The only flaw in Rep. McGovern's statement is his assumption that his Rethug colleagues have a sense of shame, when they don't. Indeed, they're going to the White (Supremacist) House to party with fellow sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump to celebrate their "victory" in stripping health care away from as many as 24 million Americans. Drink up.

BONUS: These 24 Rethuglicans who voted to repeal the ACA represent districts that either voted for Secretary Clinton, or where Rump's vote was below 50%. They need to be defeated in 2018.

BONUS II:  Here's a pic of the shits celebrating at the White House with dimbulb plutocrat Donald "Rump" Trump and smug Sneaker of the House Paul "Lyin'" Ryan clapping happily at the thought of kicking tens of millions of Americans off of health insurance, gutting Medicaid, and giving the rich a trillion dollar tax cut.

Fuck them. Make them pay.



BONUS III: Think Progress lists Rump's six broken promises in the TrumpCare bill.