All Those in Favor?.....All Those Oppposed?

Not too hard to figure out what this post is about, but if the title doesn't clue you in..........Heath Care!  And, oh.......by the way, there's a whole lot more nays then yeas.  Heck even puppet-spicer is admitting there's trouble.......in a Freudian kinda way.  Now I'm not saying that this was in relation to the hottest legislative story of the week, but Friday, puppet-spicer came out to the press briefing with his American Flag lapel pin upside down.  You know, the America in distress symbol.  A note was passed to him and he immediately corrected his faux pas, his Freudian slip.

All in favor?  Well Paul Ryan is.  Whether he has the numbers in the House to move it to the senate is unclear, but it's not looking good.  You'll see why as we examine the 'nays'.

trump is "all in".  Here are some of the comments d. j[ackass] has made:

"It's a great bill," [t]rump said of the American Health Care Act. "I really believe we're going to have tremendous support. I'm proud to endorse the replacement plan."

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/07/trump-endorses-gop-replacement-plan-for-obamacare-says-lets-get-it-done.html

"After meeting with House Republicans at the White House, Rep. Steve Scalise, the majority whip, said  [trump] "committed in our meeting that he is all-in to making sure that this bill gets to his desk.""

There seems to be some confusion here though.  The Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary doesn't agree with trump's reported position, noted above.

"Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price called the House bill a "work in progress," rather than a final bill backed fully by [trump]."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/obamacare-repeal-replace-bill-congress/

But what does trump really think?  Well maybe I shouldn't use the words 'think' and 'trump' in the same sentaence, but I'll hold my nose while I give him that much credit.  Your guess is as good as anyone's, but here's a possible clue.  In that same meeting with House Republicans, trump is reported to have said:

""[I]f they can't pass health care legislation after seven years of promises it could be a "bloodbath" in the 2018 midterm election, according to one member present in the meeting.""

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/donald-trump-health-care/

So, he seems to be "all in" because, if he doesn't try to help have this legislation passed, then he will suffer.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a nuclear physicist to figure this one out.

Anybody else in favor?  Not that I'm seeing!!!!!

Ok, the nays?  Wooooooo dogie, hold onto your .......whatever!

The American Medical Association (AMA).
The American Association of Retired people (AARP).
All Democrtas in both houses of Congress.

But then we start to see some surprises.  Four Republican members of the Senate, maybe we should call that five, will not vote for the current legislation, should it come to the Senate without major changes.

"Republican Sens.. Rob Portman (Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia), Cory Gardner (Colorado), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader [m]itch [m]c[c]onnell on Monday voicing their concerns."

"We will not support a plan that does not include stability for Medicaid expansion populations or flexibility for states,"

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/republican-senators-obamacare-medicaid-expansion-portman-capito-gardner-murkowski

Also Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, doesn't like it:

"Rand Paul told CNN that the current bill would be "dead on arrival" in the House: "I don't think it's ever going to arrive in the Senate. I think it's dead on arrival in the House,""

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/obamacare-repeal-replace-bill-congress/

The composition of the Senate is 48 Democrats and 52 Republicans.  If all Democrats vote against the bill and the five Senators listed above vote against the bill, then there won't be a thing that pence can do about it (as he did with devoss).

Republicans in the House?  Well for starters, the House freedom caucus, the ultra conservative tea party members.  There are 36 members of the freedom caucus.  I have no interest in defining why they don't support the legislation, suffice it to say, they don't.  The House has 197 Democrats and 239 Republicans for a total of 436 members.  In order to have the votes necessary to send this bill to the Senate, Ryan will need to garner 219 votes.  Let's see, I bet even devoss can do this bit of math.  197 + 36 = 233.  Oooooooooops!   That's not working.

Who else doesn't like this bill? Republican Rep Thomas Massie (not a member of the freedom caucus) has said:

“It’s a stinking pile of garbage. …It’s not a Republican, conservative bill. …One thing that I’ve maintained is that this bill was written with the help of the insurance companies, just like Obamacare. That’s why it looks so similar.“

https://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2017/03/11/why-does-the-gop-want-to-push-its-own-version-of-obamacare-n2297426?utm_source=TopBreakingNewsCarousel&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingNewsCarousel

Wow!  There's no mistaking where Massie's vote is going.  So now we're at 234 against.  By the way, far be it from me to agree with Massie, but the problem, as I have always seen it, with the Affordable Health Care Act was and is the insurance companies.  Having said that, we have the Affordable Health Care Act in place and anything that ensures that Americans that have become insured will lose their insurance is unacceptable.

Who else? 

- Representative Mark Sanford of the freedom caucus "lean[s] no".

- The Club for Growth (an advocacy group that focuses on pressuring lawmakers to vote like free-market, limited government conservatives.)

- Heritage Action CEO, Michael Needham, said. "That is bad politics and, more importantly, bad policy" (activists promoting conservative policies in Congress)

- Freedom Partners (a group with close ties to the Koch brothers, who provide much of the funding for the Republican party)

- Americans for Prosperity (a conservative political group advocating for lower taxes and less government regulation)

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/obamacare-repeal-replace-bill-congress/

And here's the coup de gras, breitbart.  On February 28th breitbart featured an article with the headline:

"..... [t]rump Not Expected to Endorse Paul Ryan’s Obamacare-Lite Package in Congressional Address"

In the body of the article I found the following:

"A senior White House aide confirmed to Breitbart News that [trump's] speech will highlight his promise to repeal and replace the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), but Trump will not endorse the Ryan plan or a modified version — known now on Capitol Hill as Ryan-lite or Obamacare-lite."

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/28/president-trump-not-expected-to-endorse-paul-ryans-obamacare-lite-package-in-congressional-addresses/

Why the hell would breitbart print this unless they opposed the bill.  And furthermore, I want you to note that the article refers to an un-named source, "[a] senior White House aide".  Hmmmmmmmm he said scratching his chin, I wonder who that could be?  goebbels-bannon maybe?  The former editor in chief of the breitbart crap?   Also, I thought that un-named sources are the hallmark of fake news.   Hmmmmmmmm?

So there you have it.  The set up for what trump has rightly predicted (that really hurts me to admit that trump is 'right') will be a giant political "blood bath" in 2018 and, oh by the way, the start of trump's impeachment and demise.