The House Republicans passed a bad bill, on purpose. Now we wait through a recess to find out if the Senate has any more sense or integrity.
On purpose, because they want a legislative veto. Because the bill was required to originate in the lower chamber, by passing a bill that will never pass they ensure that it has to come back to them at least once if it is ever to be signed.
Senate Republicans should reject this power play by their colleagues. Playing against your own party is bad form. Passing a bill so reckless, the power to stop it out of the House’s hands unless and until the Senate kicks it back, is a complete abdication of responsibility and leadership by the House Republicans.
But now it goes to the Senate, where it will receive a formal scoring as to how bad it is, which the House Republicans did not wait for. They ought to be flagged and penalized for a false start. Five yards.
Senate Republicans will gut it and rewrite it, if they have any sense or integrity. But will the outcome be any better? More moderate? Anything approaching what Trump has claimed it should be?
All the while, President Trump has said the bill’s great, whatever it is. His promises on healthcare could not be more different than the bill just passed. Still, it’s great. Even as he lauds Australia’s much more progressive system, he says whatever he signs will be great.
Something tells me we can’t trust this Trump fella.
But we can’t trust the House Republicans, either. Their passage of such a horror cements that. That leaves the Senate Republicans to be the redeemers of their party’s good name.
The main way to do that is to ensure coverage parity (both in terms of who is covered and what is covered). That will require major changes to the bill, but it should always have been a requirement for reform. The House Republicans apparently had zero principles in their designs. The Senate should show them up, make them look like the JV team that they are.