AZ Congressional Delegation

Every member of the House who voted for Zombie ‘Trumpcare’ must be held accountable.

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In a pyrrhic victory for the House GOP leadership, the Zombie “Trumpcare” bill passed on a party-line vote with 20 GOP defections, on a bare-minimum vote of 217-213.

Arizona Congressional delegation: Voting yes: Franks, Gosar, McSally, Schweikert; Voting No: Biggs, Gallego, Grijalva, O’Halleran, Sinema. Don’t give Biggs any credit, he wanted a straight up repeal of “Obamacare.”

“This legislation is illogical, immoral and wrong for the country,” said Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.). “The American Health Care Act is a reckless, ideologically-motivated bill that will increase pain and suffering across the country so that political actors can claim a ‘win. ’ ” Dems tear into ‘shameful’ ObamaCare repeal vote.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned Tea-Publicans before  the vote Thursday afternoon that “You have every provision of this bill tattooed on your forehead.” “You will glow in the dark on this one. You will glow in the dark.” Nancy Pelosi tells Republicans that Trumpcare is ‘tattooed on your forehead’.

After the vote, Republican lawmakers loaded into Capitol Police buses to drive to the White House for a celebration with President Trump. As they got on board, a group of protestors gathered nearby, chanting “shame!” at them. House passes ObamaCare repeal.

This vote was a cynical act of craven political cowardice. Tea-Publicans are terrified of their GOP crazy base and the conservative media entertainment complex that feeds their insanity. They voted for political cover against a primary challenger who is crazier than they are (if that is possible) funded by these right-wing organizations. Protecting their incumbency in a GOP primary was their only motivation. They made the cynical calculation that this was more important to them than Americans losing their health insurance and potentially losing their life as a result. Dante has a new ring in the Inferno just for them.

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Action Alert: Zombie ‘Trumpcare’ vote on Thursday – call your member of Congress now

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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin and Ayn Rand fanboy, had House members vote for ‘martial law’ waiver on one-day wait rule in hopes of speedy ACA repeal on Tuesday. “We don’t need to read no stinkin’ bill!”

There is also no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score for the Zombie “Trumpcare” bill with the MacArthur Amendment and the eleventh-hour Upton Amendment. Congress does not know how this bill will affect health care coverage and cost for Americans, but most stakeholder medical organizations have warned that this bill is worse than “Trumpcare 2.0.”

UPDATE: In lieu of a CBO score, an overview of the expected effects of the GOP health-care bill.

To paraphrase the GOP attack line on Nancy Pelosi, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” only this time this criticism is actually true.

House GOP leaders just announced the House to vote Thursday on ObamaCare repeal:

The announcement sets up a high-stakes vote that is expected to come down to the wire.

The move comes after the bill gained new momentum on Wednesday, after GOP Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.) and Billy Long (Mo.) said they would support the bill after a new amendment from Upton.

Still, no lawmakers other than those two have publicly given their support since the announcement of the new amendment.

“We will be voting on the healthcare bill tomorrow. We have enough votes. It will pass. It’s a good bill,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said after leaving a leadership meeting Wednesday night.

Asked by a reporter about whether the bill would have to be pulled from the floor again for lack of support, McCarthy replied: “Would you have confidence? We’re going to pass it. We’re going to pass it. Let’s be optimistic about life.”

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Rep. Martha McSally cowers in the chicken bunker on Zombie ‘Trumpcare’

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Our pathological liar of a president spent several days lying about what is in the Zombie “Trumpcare” bill, i.e., that preexisting conditions are covered, “it’s in the bill.” No, they are not. Trump keeps giving interviews about a health bill that doesn’t exist.

The fact that preexisting conditions are not covered in the Zombie “Trumpcare” bill is the reason why influential Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the former chairman and current member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he opposes the House GOP plan because it “torpedoes” safeguards for people with preexisting conditions. GOP health-care push faces new obstacles as concerns about preexisting conditions grow:

Upton, a former chairman and current member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he opposes the House GOP plan because it “torpedoes” safeguards for people with preexisting conditions.

“I told the leadership I cannot support the bill with this provision in it,” Upton said. “I don’t know how it all will play out, but I know there are a good number of us that have raised real red flags.”

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Upton’s comments came a day after Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), a longtime opponent of the ACA, voiced similar concerns as he came out against the latest plan. On Tuesday, Long said the preexisting-condition provision was the sole reason for his opposition.

Here are two influential GOP congressmen who have the courage of their convictions to take a stand against the lies of their president and to oppose this terrible Zombie “Trumpcare” bill.

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AZ House GOP delegation votes to maintain the Trump swamp of conflicts of interest and corruption

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Democrats have forced seven votes in as many weeks on the House floor on resolutions calling for Donald Trump’s tax returns, all of which were defeated along party lines. An eighth vote failed this week. House GOP rebuffs bill to release Trump tax returns and visitor logs.

Our Arizona House GOP delegation, including the local media’s invention of the mythical moderate Republican Rep. Martha McSally, have consistently voted to maintain the Trump swamp of conflicts of interest and corruption by rejecting any transparency and public disclosure.

The Arizona Daily Star reports, Capitol link: How members of Congress from Arizona voted on major issues:

Disclosure of Trump Tax Returns: The House on April 26 blocked, 234-191, a parliamentary attempt by Democrats to force floor debate on a bill now in committee that would require presidents and major-party presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns for the preceding three years. A yes vote was to quash the Democratic bid for disclosure. (H Res 275)

Yes: McSally, Gosar, Biggs, Schweikert, Franks

No: O’Halleran, Grijalva, Gallego, Sinema

Congressional Oversight of President Trump: Voting 230-193, the House on April 27 blocked a Democratic bid for floor debate on a measure now in committee that would start congressional oversight of ethics and conflict-of-interest issues involving President Trump, in areas ranging from the public disclosure of official visitor logs to overlaps between the president’s business holdings and official acts. A yes vote was to quash the Democratic measure during debate on H Res 280.

Yes: McSally, Gosar, Biggs, Schweikert, Franks

No: O’Halleran, Grijalva, Gallego, Sinema

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Trump backs off hostage demand because GOP fears blame for a government shutdown

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With a federal government shutdown looming on Friday at midnight unless a continuing resolution (CR) spending bill is passed before then, last week Donald Trump resorted to hostage taking to try to get his way for funds for his border wall and undermining “Obamacare” for millions of Americans. Trump to Democrats: Pay for My Wall, or Obamacare Gets It! This was followed by this ridiculous hostage demand:

[B]udget chief Mick Mulvaney explained in an interview with Bloomberg Friday, the administration is offering $1 of funding for Obamacare’s crucial cost-sharing reduction subsidies for every $1 of money Democrats pony up for the wall. Here’s the full quote:

We’ve finally boiled this negotiation down to something that we want very badly, that the Democrats really don’t like, and that’s the border wall. At the same time there’s something they want very badly that we don’t like very much, which are these cost sharing reductions, the Obamacare payments. Ordinarily, in a properly functioning Washington, D.C., as in any business, this would be the basis upon which a negotiated resolution could be achieved. The question is how much of our stuff do we have to get, how much of their stuff are they willing to take, and that’s the way it should work. That’s the way that we hope that it works. We offer them $1 of CSR payments for $1 of wall payments. Right now, that’s the offer that we’ve given to our Democratic colleagues. That should form the fundamental understading that gets us to a bipartisan agreement.

The implicit threat here is that, if Democrats reject this deal, the White House will cease making the subsidy payments, and likely bring Obamacare crashing down. It is not especially credible. Democratic leaders are already responding with snark: Before, Mexico was supposed to pay for the border wall. Now, Trump’s threatening the health care of millions to get taxpayers to cover it.

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