Mitch McConnell Faces the COVID-19 Crisis By Going On Vacation

Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street SE, Washington DC

On Thusday, the Senate Republican leadership decided to go on their paid summer vacation, euhemistically called “August Recess,” without agreeing on a new COVID-19 relief bill.

“”If the speaker of the House and the minority leader of the Senate decide to finally let another rescue package move forward for workers and for families, it would take bipartisan consent to meet for legislative business sooner than scheduled,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday.

The reality is that any senator, including the roughly 20 members of McConnell’s own conference who are of the belief that enough action has already been taken to respond to the pandemic’s economic consequences, could block action before Labor Day.”

— “Senate breaks for August recess with no coronavirus deal in sight,” Niels Lesniewski, Roll Call

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Mitch McConnell Calls the Founding Fathers ‘Socialists’

This looks like a socialist cabal to Senator McConnell.

On Fox News, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Laura Ingraham that a House propsal to grant statehood to the District of Columbia is “full-bore socialism.” If you haven’t been keeping score at home, residents of DC pay Federal Income Taxes but don’t have voting representation in Congress. The signers of the Declaration of Independence weren’t as comfortable with Taxation Without Representation as Mitch is. Neither are Washingtonians.

Mitch McConnell Says He’s Coming For Your Health Care

“Republicans could try again to repeal Obamacare if they win enough seats in U.S. elections next month, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday, calling a failed 2017 push to repeal the healthcare law a ‘disappointment.’

In a forecast of 2019 policy goals tempered by uncertainty about who would win the congressional elections, McConnell blamed social programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, for the fast-rising national debt.”

— “McConnell says Senate Republicans might revisit Obamacare repeal,” David Morgan, Reuters

More:

“Mitch McConnell blames the soaring deficit on Medicare and Social Security, not the GOP tax cuts,” Peter Weber, The Week

“Republican Doublespeak on Health Care Starts at the Top,” Max Nisen, Bloomberg

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U.S. Senate Will Extend Its Hours

For a paltry $174,000 per annum, U.S. senators slave through a grueling 3-day work week, sometimes for almost 140 days a year. Now cruel Kentucky Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants senators to work Fridays and weekends, and even during the first 2 weeks of August, the optimal time for inspecting those critical NATO bases on the French Riviera. Is no one concerned about our nation’s defense?

This country is going straight to hell.

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Which Health Care Bill Will the Senate Vote On, Anyway?

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for a Senate vote on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), but it’s not clear just which GOP bill will be considered. Will it be:

• The one that just repeals the ACA and leaves 32 million Americans without health care?
• The one like RyanCare that repeals the ACA and replaces it with a program leaving 23 million without health care?
• The new one repealing the ACA and replacing it with a program that removes health insurance for 22 million?

One thing is clear: whether it’s Door #1, #2, or #3, the deal will cut taxes for the rich and increase premiums for anyone who still has health insurance.

More:

“Everyone is confused about the health care vote — including Republican senators,” Tara Golshan, Vox

“The Republicans Have Three Health Care Bills And No Clear Paths Forward,” Anna Maria Barry-Jester, FiveThirtyEight

“Senate GOP: Knowing Health Care Plan Is ‘Luxury We Don’t Have,’  Joe Williams and Lauren Clason, Roll Call

“Ahead of key vote, details of GOP health bill still unknown,” Hope Yen, Associated Press

“Senate Republicans don’t know what’s in their health bill or what it would do. They’re voting anyway.” Dylan Scott, Vox

“Trump makes veiled threat to GOP on Obamacare,” Rebecca Morin, Politico

Related:

“Parts of Senate GOP Health Care Bill Break Rules, Parliamentarian Says,” Mary Ellen McIntire, Roll Call

“Mixed signals from Trump White House on health care strategy,” Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Ken Thomas, Associated Press

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GOP Bill Destroys Health Coverage for 32 Million

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring his Affordable Care Act Repeal bill up for a vote after all. If passed, the bill would repeal the ACA (aka ObamaCare) in two years, but doesn’t provide a replacement. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that, if the bill passes, 17 million Americans would lose health coverage next year, 32 million by 2026. CBO estimates that average insurance premiums would rise 25 percent next year, 50 percent by 2020, and double by 2026.

Worried insurers would probably start leaving the individual insurance market in the next few months or hike rates sharply.

President Trump threatened Senate Republicans with political retribution if they don’t vote for the homicidal bill. He’ll probably tweet them from the golf course this weekend to make sure they’re working on it [Update: Yes he did].

More:

“CBO Makes It Clear Repealing Obamacare Without a Replacement Would Be a Disaster,” Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine

“Here’s what health care looks like if Republicans’ Obamacare ‘repeal and delay’ plan succeeds,” Max Ehrenfreund, Washington Post

“H.R. 1628, Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act of 2017: Cost Estimate,” Congressional Budget Office

Update:

“Parts of Senate GOP Health Care Bill Break Rules, Parliamentarian Says,”Mary Ellen McIntire, Roll Call

Related:

“Trump can’t make a health care deal because he doesn’t understand health care,” Ezra Klein, Vox

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McConnell: GOP Wants a Health Care Time Bomb

The GOP’s murderous senate health bill flatlined on Monday, but there’s a Republican Plan B. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will introduce a measure that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) in two years.

That’s it. No alternative plan to replace it.

Your health insurance will self-destruct at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2019.

More:

“McConnell’s ‘nuclear option’ after health care failure,” Mike Allen Jonathan Swan, Axios

“Republican senator announces no vote on ObamaCare repeal: ‘I did not come to Washington to hurt people,'” The Week

“Dem senator: ObamaCare repeal without replacement would be ‘humanitarian disaster,’” Aida Chavez, The Hill

“McConnell Obamacare repeal plan already taking fire from Republicans,” Daniella Diaz and Ted Barrett, CNN

“’Repeal and delay’: McConnell’s new, risky health care plan, explained,” Sarah Kliff, Vox

UPDATE:

“GOP’s repeal-only plan quickly collapses in Senate,” Jessie Hellmann and Jordain Carney, The Hill

Related:

“House GOP Budget Plan Cuts Medicare and Social Security,” Priscilla Alvarez, The Atlantic

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Senate Health Bill in Medically Induced Coma

In an emergency procedure, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put his Republican health care bill in a medically induced coma until after the July 4th congressional recess. The GOP geniuses who created this monster, a bill that would take health care away from 22 million Americans in order to give massive tax cuts to the rich, will commit more meatball surgery on the languishing legislation until Friday, June 30th. What could possibly go wrong?

More:

“Shifting Dollars From Poor to Rich Is a Key Part of the Senate Health Bill,” Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times

“Cost Estimate: Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017,” CBO

Update:

“CBO projects 35-percent drop in Medicaid spending by 2036 under Senate GOP health bill,” Adam Kelsey and Arlette Saenz, ABC News

“Longer-Term Effects of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 on Medicaid Spending,’ CBO
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Congress: How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

The National Journal‘s Michael Catalini spent his summer vacation cataloging what legislative leaders did on theirs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): “Put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame!”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): Watched his aide Jesse Benton holding his nose.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL): Compiled an “Enemies List.”

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX): Got put on the Enemies List of FreedomWorks.

House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH-8): Played golf with Donald Trump.