Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he'll oppose the Graham-Cassidy attempt to repeal Obamacare, too. His objections are all completely reasonable, but you have to wonder why he announced his intentions a full five days before the Senate plans to vote on the bill -- he may be signaling that he wants changes, though it's hard to see what changes would answer his objections, since they're mostly process-based.
We were just talking about the two sides of Charles Grassley, were we not? Well, here's the other side: despite professing to be able to "give 10 reasons why (Graham-Cassidy) shouldn't be considered," Mr. Grassley still thinks Republicans should pass it, because they made a promise to repeal Obamacare. The lesson here, I would think, is that you shouldn't make stupid promises, let alone promises upon which you can't deliver.
It gets worse: a spokesperson for Minority Leader Schumer says Senate Democrats were all ready to give up major concessions to Republicans regarding health care reform -- but Republicans turned them down. As dispiriting as it is to see Democrats being weak, it's mind-blowing to see Republicans turn down the opportunity not only to look like they can govern, but look like they can push Democrats around at will, which latter item would have invigorated their base ahead of the midterms. I literally cannot imagine what Republicans were thinking.
EPA Inspector General finds that the EPA mismanages its Superfund staff, to the point where work is not proceeding swiftly enough on at least four Superfund sites where folks can reasonably expect to be exposed to toxic contamination. Lest you get a whiff of the Trumphole in all of this, the Inspector General's study stretches back to February of 2016, when the putatively more competent Barack Obama was in office. Also n.b. that the Inspector General cites mismanagement of staff, not "not enough staff," though surely the latter can remediate the former somewhat.
But we can blame the Trump Administration for this: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt says President Obama left 40 percent of Americans with "unhealthy air" to breathe, but doesn't mention that before Mr. Obama took office, 58 percent of Americans were breathing unhealthy air. I don't know which is worse -- that Mr. Pruitt pretends to care about clean air and the good Americans who breathe it, or that he ignores the part of the story that actually makes the story meaningful.
Finally, a Twitter user named Gay Sassy Republican apparently had serious financial problems stemming from a car accident -- but had earlier opined, on numerous occasions, that "healthy" people shouldn't be "forced" to pay for sick people. Even though, you know, that's how health insurance works -- and anyone can be healthy or sick at any time. Why, sick people have even been known to get healthy! Why do I suspect this accident and its aftermath will not change Gay Sassy Republican?
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