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Stop TrumpCare in the Senate: What You Need to Do

by

By Doug Porter

If you live in California, DON’T call your US Senator about opposing the TrumpCare bill currently under consideration.  We already know both our Senators won’t vote for something that goes scurrying back under the refrigerator when the lights come on.

Instead, ask them to withhold consent on all Senate business until Republicans agree to hold a public hearing on ACHA. 

The baker’s dozen of good ol’ boys hammering out a ‘healthcare’ bill in the United States Senate are hoping to push their Frankensteinian creature to a vote this week. They’d like to pass legislation affecting one-sixth of the domestic economy and impacting (at a minimum) 23 million people with as little outside input as possible.

Senate

Notice anything in common here?

Now is the time to let the Senate know a plan supported by 27% of the public doesn’t cut it. There is a National Senate Call-In Day to stop TrumpCare on Wednesday, June 14. Make calls and help spread the word. (Share on Facebook.) (Tweet this.)

Here’s how to help even more if you live in California:

One important thing you CAN do is call/email/message your friends and family in Maine (Sen. Susan Collins), Alaska (Sens. Lisa Murkowski & Dan Sullivan), Nevada (Sen. Dean Heller), West Virginia (Sen. Shelley Moore Capito), Louisiana (Sen. Bill Cassidy), Ohio (Sen.Rob Portman), Arkansas (Sen. Tom Cotton), Colorado (Sen. Cory Gardner), Arizona (Sen. Jeff Flake) and Pennsylvania (Sen. Pat Toomey).

These are all Senators who analysts believe could be persuaded to vote against this legislation. Flip three votes and Trumpcare is dead, at least for the summer.

Need a script so you know what to say? No problem. Need to know who to speak with when you call? Here’s the list, complete with email addresses. (Remember, calls from non-constituents are not recorded in tallies.)

Want an automated app to do the work for you? Text “RESIST” to 50409 or message Resistbot on Facebook and it will find out who represents you in Congress, and deliver your message to them in under 2 minutes. No downloads or apps required.

(Again Californians, remember we’re asking our Senators to withhold consent on all Senate business until Republicans agree to hold a public hearing on ACHA.)

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has invoked a rule bypassing the entire regular legislative procedure for a Senate bill.  No one even knows what’s in the bill except for the Senate Republicans.

There will be no hearings, no committee markups, no public testimony, no input from physicians, nurses, hospitals, insurers or the public.

In keeping with the trend of Republicans belittling women who dare to speak up, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri was accused of ‘ranting and raving’ for daring to make an issue of this subterfuge in front of the Senate Finance Committee.

Here’s what she had to say to Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah after he admitted there wouldn’t be a hearing and mumbled something about “input”:

I watched carefully all of the hearings that went on [when the Affordable Care Act was crafted]. I was not a member of this committee at the time, although I would have liked to be. [Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa] was the ranking member. Dozens of Republican amendments were offered and accepted in that hearing process.

And when you say that you’re inviting us – and we heard you, Mr. Secretary, just say, ‘We’d love your support’ – for what? We don’t even know. We have no idea what’s being proposed. There’s a group of guys in a back room somewhere that are making these decisions. There were no hearings in the House.

I mean, listen, this is hard to take. Because I know we made mistakes [when the ACA came together], Mr. Secretary. And one of the criticisms we got over and over again that the vote was partisan. Well you couldn’t have a more partisan exercise than what you’re engaged in right now. We’re not even going to have a hearing on a bill that impacts one-sixth of our economy. We’re not going to have an opportunity to offer a single amendment. It is all being done with an eye to try to get it by with 50 votes and the vice president.

FYI–In the Senate alone, Obamacare had 80 days of transparency – 36 days of hearings, 18 days of bill markup, 26 days and 270 hours of Senate floor debate. If Senate Republicans get their way, Trumpcare will get 20 hours of floor debate. Maybe.

Happy birthday to me on Facebook.  It’s true. Young people think I’m older than dirt now.

I have a (67th)“birthday ask.” I really do appreciate all the good wishes on Facebook. etc. (It’s almost embarassing, but I’ll take it.)

However, YOU can help Facebook help me and the San Diego Free Press by remembering to click “like” and “share” when you see our posts.

The Gods of Google and the Sultans of Social Media are increasingly focused on promoting commercialized media, which can be a problem for us non-monetized types.

Thank you. For reading. For caring. Now, go call your Senator or no cake for you!

I‘m gonna keep Monday’s column short and sweet so I can head downtown this morning for more fireworks over the Mayor’s big plans to force a special election on behalf of the city’s hoteliers.  Stay tuned…  …It’s gonna be YUUUUGE.

Special rewards for reading this far down: Little birdies are singing about the shakeup in Mayor Faulconer’s staff this week and how really pissed Councilman Chris Ward is over hizzoner’s budgeting revenge. 

Looking for some action? Check out the Weekly Progressive Calendar, published every Friday in this space, featuring Demonstrations, Rallies, Teach-ins, Meet Ups and other opportunities to get your activism on.

You can now get the Weekly Progressive Calendar delivered to your inbox every Friday. And it’s Free! Subscribe and get an email every time a new article in this series is posted!

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I read the Daily Fishwrap(s) so you don’t have to… Catch “the Starting Line” Monday thru Friday right here at San Diego Free Press (dot) org. Send your hate mail and ideas to DougPorter@SanDiegoFreePress.Org    Check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Doug Porter

Doug Porter

Doug Porter was active in the early days of the alternative press in San Diego, contributing to the OB Liberator, the print version of the OB Rag, the San Diego Door, and the San Diego Street Journal. He went on to have a 35-year career in the Hospitality business and decided to go back into raising hell when he retired. He won numerous awards for his columns from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Doug is a cancer survivor (sans vocal chords) and lives in North Park.

Comments

  1. The distraction of #SessionsHearing should not stop outrage re #Trumpcare process- “Democracy dies behind closed doors”- demand public hearings

    Shared from Indivisible: Please share widely.
    This is the moment of truth for progressives.

    If we don’t stop #TrumpCare here, we won’t stop it at all. Senate Republicans have locked down virtually every vote they need for their monstrous TrumpCare bill to destroy healthcare.

    The United States Senate Majority Leader is relying on secrecy+speed to pass this monstrosity. That’s why the strategy for Dems in the Senate must be shine bright light & slow down this process.

    They’ll push forward w/an unprecedented closed door strategy:
    -no hearings
    -no town halls
    -no CBO score
    -no sharing bill w American people

    In fact, they’re even BANNING THE MEDIA from doing interviews in the Capitol so they don’t have to answer Qs about this bill.

    How can we stop it? Only chance is to shine a light on their terrible process, their terrible bill, and slow it down to maximum extent.

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