Senate Vote on ObamaCare

This past week has been particularly momentous for ObamaCare as the Senate has been voting all week on different methods of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Here's a recap

It began Tuesday, July 25th when a vote for a "motion to proceed" was held. This would open the floor up to debate on several different plans regarding Health Care. A simple majority was needed, and as expected all 46 Democratic and 2 Independent Senators voted no in addition to 2 Republican Senators. In a shocking turn of events, Arizona Senator John McCain showed up from treatment for a brain tumor to cast what turned out to be the deciding vote for a yes. This left the Senate tied and Vice President Pence broke the tie with an expected yes. Now the Senate was open to debate on 3 different proposals: Repeal and Replace, Partial Repeal, and the "Skinny" Repeal.

First was the Repeal and Replace plan or officially "Better Care Reconciliation Act," that was voted on that same Tuesday. According to the CBO, the bill would have resulted in 22 million more Americans not being able to afford health insurance by 2026. Due to budget rules, the bill needed 60 votes to pass. The final vote was 43-57 (43 yes and 57 no) with 9 Republicans voting no, a definite win.

The second was the Partial Repeal, officially "Obamacare Repeal and Reconciliation Act" voted on Wednesday, July 26th. This bill would repeal certain parts of the Affordable Care Act notably the individual mandate. The CBO estimated 32 million fewer Americans would have insurance by 2026. The bill needed a simple majority to pass. The final vote was 45-55 with 7 Republicans voting no, another win.

The final is the "Skinny" Repeal officially known as the "Health Care Freedom Act" that was voted on early this morning on Friday, July 28th. The bill would have repealed only the unpopular parts of ObamaCare. The CBO came out with an estimate the day before the vote, estimating 16 million fewer Americans would have insurance by 2026. Again, a simple majority was needed. The final vote was 49-51, narrowly ending in a no with a mere 3 Republicans voting no, John McCain again casting the deciding vote.

It would be naive to think this the end for congressional attempts at repealing ObamaCare, but for now this is a massive victory. For now, any citizens should be calling their senators the number below to praise or scold them based on how they voted (a chart is also below). Here is an example prompt to follow: "Hello, my name is [full name] and I'm a constituent from [city] in [county]. I would like to say I am [glad/disappointed] at how Senator [senator name] voted this week [if any exceptions mention here]. I hope Senator [senator name] voted [similarly/differently] in the future. Thank you!"

Phone Number: (202) 224-3121
Chart: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/us/politics/senate-votes-repeal-obamacare.html
More Information on Plans: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/us/which-health-bill-will-the-senate-vote-on.html

Bad news,

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/29/senate-republicans-obamacare-repeal-241128

Trump has been calling for yet another renewed attempt.
The question that results from this, is whether Senate Republicans will heed this, or whether they will have learned from their mistakes and understand the bad press they've earned and the effect this will have in future political campaigns.

I personally am hoping Congress starts to turn against Trump and listen to constituents. So long as Congress can hold out until the 2018 election, 2 more Democrats could win seats effectively blocking a simple majority for a long period of time.

For a while though, we've been thinking "this will split up Congress from Trump."

The key to ensuring an anti-Trump legislature is what we have, thankfully. Jeff Sessions. Despite having an unfortunate political stance, any wedge between the Senate and the White House is beneficial. The best scenario then, involves a heightened Trump investigation, to the point that his high level allies began being attacked as he responds to investigation. Jeff Sessions is who we've seen be attacked, we've lost Sean Spicer. As investigations continue, more and more Trump-friendly senators will see their friends fall out of favor with the president and will theoretically, turn on him.

The coming weeks and months in politics are sure to be eventful, regardless of which side they benefit. I'll do my best to report on any updates as they occur.