Somebody forgot to drive a stake into the Senate ‘health’ bill

People on the left have told them it’s a horrible bill.

People on the right have told them it’s a horrible bill.

People in the center have done the same.

Yet Republican leaders in Congress keep on trying to resurrect it when it should be dead:

McConnell is trying to revise the Senate health-care bill by Friday

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is aiming to send a revised version of his health-care bill to the Congressional Budget Office by as soon as Friday, according to Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists.

The effort reflects the tight timeline McConnell faces in his attempt to hold a vote before the August recess — and the pressure he is under to make changes that improve the CBO’s measure of the bill’s impact on coverage levels and federal spending.

McConnell is trying to move quickly to produce a new CBO score by the time lawmakers return to Washington in mid-July, giving the Senate about two weeks to fulfill the majority leader’s goal of voting before the August recess….

Once again we see the relentless phenomenon that characterizes our politics. Keats said it this way:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

People with good intentions see that the bill is dead, say “that’s good,” and turn away. They go back to their lives. But the people with the very worst, most destructive ideas just never, ever give up. It happens time and again.

It’s like, in the final reel of the horror movie, when everybody thinks Dracula is dead, and he pops back up out of his coffin yet again — because no one remembered to put the stake through his heart…

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4 thoughts on “Somebody forgot to drive a stake into the Senate ‘health’ bill

  1. bud

    The people with the worst, most destructive ideas never give up.

    There is another name for those people – Republicans. When was the last time the party of Trump actually had a good idea? Or even an idea that had a tiny, scintilla of merit? This party exists for the soul purpose of creating a plutocracy where the rich both rule and benefit from government largesse. This “healthcare” scheme is emblematic of this party’s culture. Never would so few benefit so much at the suffering and death of so many. The hapless Democrats want to do what’s best but they just can’t get their act together. And so we see the master marketers push atrocious idea after atrocious idea onto the easily fooled American public. It’s the same approach that has successfully foisted horrible products like Pepsi Cola onto the people. Think about it. Pepsi and Coke are mostly sugar and water that rot your teeth and cause diabetes and other health problems. The stuff really is nasty. Yet people drink this crap because of brilliant marketing. The GOP is really the Pepsi cola of political parties but rather than rotting your teeth this diabolical outfit rots your soul. And people pay dearly for the privilege.

      1. bud

        Bryan it’s not conservative ideas that get me so riled up it’s this bizarre bastardization of conservatism principles that used to be respectable. Heck Obamacare had its roots in conservative dogma. Trumpcare is just an ideologue cancer on the body politic. And a few Republicans seem to be pushing back, at least publically.

  2. Harry Harris

    As long as they can sell something that cuts the Obamacare taxes on high incomes, netting about a trillion over ten years for the highest incomes, they will keep pitching, dealing, aiming at picking off Senators with sweeteners, and plotting their next move. Coming from an extreme position to one you want is an old bargaining strategy. This bill may be seen as a staking-out point to make a still raw deal look acceptable. McConnell is falsely claiming the taxes under Obamacare as “passed along to everyone” when they simply are not. What’s infuriating to me is that the 45 or so Senators are willing to sell out for the benefit of a few of their constituents (and contributors). The 5 or so hard right libertarian types plus Cruz don’t surprise or bug me at all. The rest seem willing to entertain anything for a victory. Heaven help us if this works. Tax “reform” is next. Then Social Security, Medicare, and any other reverse Robin Hood policy they can dream up.

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