With Senator John McCain (R-AZ) back in DC to cast one of the fifty votes necessary for Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie, the Senate has voted to begin debating repeal (and potentially replacing) the Affordable Care Act.
While this is only the first step towards peeling back this onion, Democrats went, expectedly, nuts.
From Senator Mark Warner:
“Today’s vote will have very real and disastrous consequences for millions of Americans. The only question is how many people will be harmed, since Senate Republicans voted to move forward on a bill no one has yet seen but which we already know will raise costs and kick millions off their health insurance, including millions of children, elderly and disabled Americans who depend on Medicaid.”
From Senator Tim Kaine:
“As one of my colleagues has said, not a single one of us came to the United States Senate to hurt people, but that is exactly what Republicans have set in motion with today’s forced vote on a secret bill. For many of my constituents in Virginia and millions of people across America, this bill likely means losing insurance or paying much more for health care.”
And from Gov. Terry McAuliffe:
“Congressional Republicans once again are hastily working to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and rip away health coverage from tens of millions of Americans. This process has been negotiated in secret and there is no clear path forward. Both the House and Senate versions to replace the ACA would leave hundreds of thousands of Virginians without insurance, decimate our state budget, and severely impact our ability to provide quality health care coverage and long-term care for those who need it the most.”
Boring.
Same tired talking points. It looks like the copy machine was in full use today.
That said, we all knew this messaging was coming.
The original vote cast by Senator Warner (and then Webb) in the dead of night while Santa was overhead on Christmas Eve in 2009 also have had very real and disastrous consequences for millions of Americans,
Let us not forget the Americans who have been forced from doctors they supposedly could keep, have had their premiums skyrocket, been dropped from coverage, been laid off because small business could no longer afford coverage, had to accept sub standard coverage because of the mandate, have had no choice at all because of failing health care markets or have had to pay a Draconian, government-mandated penalty if they chose not to have coverage.
And make no mistake, Democrats, led by their progressive “independent” Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, want a single-payer system.
They’re not happy with ObamaCare either, and that’s the socialist, far left “replace” that they would prefer.
Their solution: when leftism fails, lurch even further to the left.
Make no mistake, if Democrats had the White House and both chambers, they’d be trying this very moment to save us from Obamacare with single payer.
The reality is that the logjam has finally been broken, but there is a lot of water that still has to go under the bridge before this discussion is through.