GOP going to try once more to kill ACA

It's never safe to relax about the Republicans trying to repeal Obamacare.   Persistent, aren't they?   What was it . . . 60-some times they voted to do it when Obama was still president and would have vetoed it?

Then they failed by one vote before their August recess, and we thought that was it.   But now they're back with one last hope for a hurrah.   Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have introduced a bill that would essentially replace most of the Affordable Care Act with block grants to the states, leaving it up to the states to decide how to use it for their citizens.

Because Graham and Cassidy are generally among the more reasonable Republicans in the senate, most people (including me) assumed that their bill would also be more reasonable.    But it is not.  In many ways, it is far more drastic than what the senate already rejected.  For example, a state could decide to eliminate the pre-existing protection.   Any premium subsidies would also be up to the states;  the federal subsidies would end.

There are two problems with this procedurally.   In order to pass it with a simple majority -- the 51 votes they needed, and failed, to get in August -- they have to complete it and get the House's approval by September 30th when the fiscal year ends and the new fiscal budget goes into effect.  That's because, as part of the budget reconciliation, it is not subject to the senate filibuster.  And there's no way they can pass the bill if it takes 60 votes in the Senate, which it would on October 1st.

Then the Congressional Budget Office has just informed them that they will need two to three weeks to complete the scoring of the bill to see how many people will be lose coverage and what the cost will be.   They have just 12 days.

They can, of course, vote to pass it without the CBO scoring.   The House rushed its bill through passage without a CBO score.   But it would also be without having had any committee discussion or public comment.  And then it could be rushed to a floor vote in the senate with less than two (2) minutes debate.   I don't believe Sen. Collins for one would vote for that.

Chris Hayes explained why such limited debate.  It's part of the budget bill, which had a certain amount of time for discussion.  They've already used up all but the last 90 seconds allotted to discuss the budget bill.

So, assuming that everyone votes the same way they did on the last bill, it would fail by one vote.   Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are thought to be reliable no votes again.   But John McCain's vote is said to be uncertain this time.  Ron Paul voted yes before but has already said he will oppose this one -- because it leaves "too much of Obamacare in place."   I'm not sure what he's referring to.

The lobbying and arm-twisting will be fierce.   All kinds of deals will be offered.   Block grants are generally appealing to the more conservative members, but I think they all voted for the previous bill.   So that may not pick up any votes.  But it's too close for comfort.

And, by the way, the concern about Sen. Menendez won't apply here.  His trial is currently ongoing and expected to last for weeks.   So there's no chance for him to be convicted, resolve the question of whether he gets booted from the senate, and then a replacement sworn in.

Never a dull moment.  Call your senators.   Demand a defeat of this abomination that would throw more people off health care than the other bills, because it has the worst of each previous plan, all rolled up into one.

Ralph