Analyzing McConnell’s Health Plan Strategery: A Hail Mary Pass? Is The Game Over?
Opinion writers across the country take a hard look at the legislative tactics employed this week by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as his party's health plan unraveled.
Bloomberg:
A Chance For A New Beginning On Health Care
They may have avoided the ditch, but Republicans have driven themselves into a cul-de-sac. After the failure in the Senate of their disastrous plan to replace Obamacare, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now promises to make his colleagues vote instead on just a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. (7/18)
The Washington Post:
McConnell’s Health-Care Hail Mary
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of Republican health-care reform are greatly exaggerated. Far from throwing in the towel, as some have reported, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is actually throwing a final Hail Mary pass in an effort to pass the Senate Republicans’ Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). And he’s found an extremely clever way to do it. (Marc A. Thiessen, 7/18)
San Jose Mercury News:
The Game Is Not Over For Mitch McConnell
McConnell’s biggest challenge was getting 50 Republican senators to agree to vote for a “motion to proceed” on a bill that they disagreed with — knowing that it was unlikely to be amended in ways that would make a difference to their final votes given the split between Republican conservatives and moderates and given the Democrats’ refusal to cooperate. Instead of cooperation, Republicans would have to endure an onslaught of politically toxic Democratic amendments, as Senate Democrats forced them to cast one vote after another designed to make them look like monsters come Election Day. (Marc Thiessen, 7/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Uh-Oh, The GOP Has No Choice But To Work With Democrats On Healthcare Reform
The sudden collapse of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s healthcare bill on Monday was much more than a tactical setback for the Senate Republican leader once considered an unbeatable legislative wizard. It was a catastrophic failure for the GOP’s attempt to make one-party government work. It’s one thing to produce gridlock when control of Congress is divided. When one party manages to produce gridlock all by itself, something is seriously wrong. The setback means that Obamacare will almost certainly survive for the foreseeable future, despite seven years of GOP promises to repeal it. (Doyle McManus, 7/19)
Miami Herald:
Suddenly, A Defeated McConnell Sees The Value Of A Bipartisan Healthcare Plan
This is what happens when you try to muscle through in six months — and in secret — what you could have done over seven years. You bear the brunt of the responsibility for the GOP’s disaster of a healthcare plan getting flushed down the tubes. This is what happens when you do anything, short of crawling under a rock, to avoid having to look your scared and angry constituents in the eye at town hall meetings. When you emerge from wherever you’ve been hiding, those constituents are still scared, still angry, having flooded your offices on the Hill with phone calls and emails to make sure you get the message. (7/18)
The Charlotte Observer:
The Last Big Republican Lie On Health Care
Moments after the latest Republican health care bill died Monday night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed that Republicans instead repeal the Affordable Care Act immediately, but let it live for two years while they come up with a replacement. President Trump, at least initially, agreed in a tweet. (7/18)
