GOP abandons vote on health care repeal after CBO predicts 22 million would lose insurance

boing
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I think the argument is that the ACA is unstable and going to collapse, leaving everyone in a worse position later on, so the AHCA is supposed to be (or at least look like) something more sustainable. Not that the proposals seem to be a sane attempt at that.

According to (possibly untrue) legend, the GOP was largely about fiscal responsibility/prudence, so that justification could have maybe been reasonable, but these days all of federal (at least) politics is a partisan shitshow, so nobody really stands for much of anything besides Our Side vs Their Side.

P.S. Before you get mad at me, I think some Democratic Party lawmakers have genuine moral stances (Sanders and Warren come to mind), but I’m betting we’ve got a fair few partisan hacks as well, and maybe the GOP has a few moral characters stashed away somewhere (I’m in the echo chamber too, so I don’t follow “the other side” enough to know for sure).

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But has that ever been true? I’m fairly sure the GOP have always talked about being fiscally prudent and responsible, and always acted like your alcoholic uncle when the drinks are free.

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It might be? The article only goes back 3 decades, so maybe they actually stood for something before then?

I dunno, I’m trying to be magnanimous or something…I’ll edit the original comment.

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Repubs have always claimed that, but I don’t know that it’s ever been true in the last 50 years or so.

Not your bad if it hasn’t; I’m 42 and can’t remember a time when they were not actively making things worse for women and people of color.

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a big tax cut for the rich American People - though that is not how they sell it.

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That’s not really true either.

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You’ll note that even Fox News isn’t covering the health care bill in prime time.

Not much there to defend. Maybe they knew it wouldn’t go through, or maybe it’s part of a coordinated effort to be as secretive about it as possible until it gets passed and they can claim ‘victory.’

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I really can’t help but hope some sort of unpleasant virus becomes contagious among the members of Congress right now; the irony would be stellar.

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Maybe one of the congressmen from NM will bring back a surprise after the recess.

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Don’t be too rosy. Pretty much the same thing happened with the house vote, remember? The ‘conservatives’ objected that it didn’t go far enough, the vote was delayed, then they all caved and the moderates fell into line voting yes unless allowed to vote no because its figured that might help them hold their seat.

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(not from you @apalatn, not from you)

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Claiming is what brings conservatives together. Claiming what is yours is theirs, and then forcing your submission with threats, and ultimately violence. Keeping the MAN in manifest destiny and all that.

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The word is Democratic. Democratic lawmakers. It’s mostly superconservatives who call it the Democrat Party. I know it’s trivial, but it’s a bugbear of mine.

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Good thread:

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It is harder to get senators in line. They are less easily bought than representatives and are more risk-averse when it comes to re-election.

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I think a lot of their mothers had Zika.

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I honestly didn’t know there was a distinction. Edited.

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Oh, you don’t need to do that. I was just trying to make the world a more pedantic better place.

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So in a way, “the system works!”. Looks like the various counter weight checks and balances succeeded here by effectively stopping rash legislation.