After yesterday's dreadful CBO report and flood of opposition by key Republican Senators, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed the vote until after the July 4th break.
This is a victory, but a small and shaky one. Think of it more as an opportunity. Right now two factions of senators have declared their opposition.
On the "it's not pure enough or cruel enough side," we have Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson and Mike Lee.
On the "it's too mean but you might be able to sweeten the bitter pill" side, we have Senators Collins, Murkowski, Moran, Portman and Heller.
Please note that there is no such thing as a "moderate Republican." But these people are politicians and desperately want to hold their power. They're further bolstered by the likes of Charlie and David Koch, who are nearly orgasmic at the prospect of ripping health care away from people who have only had access in recent years.
So. There is an opportunity in front of us. We must be visible, obvious, loud, and fierce about defending our right to health care. Do not, under any circumstances, consider the vote delay a victory. After all, that mistake was made with the House, and here we are in the Senate.
Every Republican senator should be contacted every day. They are logging the calls. And they have a problem. If they sweeten up the bill for Rand Paul, it'll lose Rob Portman. They don't have any margin of error.
This dog of a bill must die, and it must die now. Please plan to resist PUBLICLY over the July 4th break.
