This is one insult too much. It is an insult to America from the GOP Senate.
Remember when Mitch McConnell was the first Senate leader to use the Nuclear Option in the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice? Even without the criminal prolog to this act, it was jaw-dropping.
GOP perfidy
Was this simply a nefarious act of a party that serves corporate interests and not Americans? It was worse than that. It was essentially a confirmation that under Trump we are witnessing McConnell give up any pretense of independence. McConnell is turning the legislative branch of government into a rubber stamp for a man with no compunctions about being your genial local dictator.
Today's indignity is worse
It is often seemingly small things that are true signs of disaster. Now we are seeing the willingness of this sorry McConnell to bypass the Congressional Budget Office (Cbo) in getting Trumpcare passed. If the GOP Senate does not revolt, we should. This is a woeful precedent. He is doing it so the CBO will not get to score the Cruz Amendment which is poisonous on two counts.
Double whammy
The Cruz Amendment could cost a mint -- and the CBO surely would have said so. Secondly, it would create a gambling scam which would make folk with pre-existing conditions either pay through the roof or give up insurance entirely. The amendment would give states the option of undermining the fixed Obama commitment to covering all regardless of their pre-existing condition.
It is sickening to believe that McConnell would sink this low. But then we remember his hatred of President Obama and his willingness to bend rules while being hailed as a great strategist. The media has played a role in casting McConnell as something other than a subverter of democracy.
Here from Axios is the occasion for this article:
Republicans may sidestep CBO https://t.co/v3mXPIZPMO #axiosvitals
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) July 14, 2017
To be fair there is nothing that says there must be a CBO score.
But the CBO was formed so the GOP could not run to the executive branch for approval. The reality is that without a CBO score there will be no objective analysis of the damage the Cruz Amendment will do.
The long and the short
We are on the precipice. It is not great up here but if we go over it will be worse. We will have one more in a growing list of things we will need to repair when we are rid of Trump and McConnell. Between them, they are creating work for a generation just to begin to get America working at all. Shame on McConnell. Pray the GOP refuses the terrible Trumpcare bill. Act to defeat it.
