Dear MoveOn member,
The GOP strategy to push through Donald Trump and Paul Ryan's wildly unpopular agenda couldn't be more obvious:
Secrecy and skullduggery.
A small group of Republican senators is reportedly close to finishing their version of the bill to kill the Affordable Care Act—but their unprecedented behind-closed-doors approach means no one knows what's in it.1 Not the media. Not other Senate Republicans. And certainly not the public.
They're hammering out a bill that’ll upend tens of millions of Americans’ health care and rewire 1/6th of the U.S. economy at small, top-secret lunch and dinner meetings in posh restaurants around Washington, D.C. And then they plan to rush it to a vote with no committee markup, floor debate, or public review. They're even sending the bill to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for analysis—a requirement that they cannot flout—without sharing the bill with their own Republican colleagues.
And get this: As the media is clamoring for scraps of information, reporters were stunned last week to hear that—in a reversal from years of precedent—they’re no longer allowed to record interviews with members of Congress in the halls of the Capitol.2 Coincidence?
The GOP’s strategy is secrecy and skullduggery. MoveOn and their allies' remedy is to raise a mighty ruckus and keep Mitch McConnell from ramming this massive disaster of a bill through the Senate outside of the public eye.
But MoveOn gets the vast majority of its resources from people like you. Hundreds of thousands of people each year give what they can afford. That’s why I’m asking, Eddie: Will you chip in $3 to help MoveOn stop Trumpcare in the Senate?
Click here to chip in and help stop Trumpcare.
It’s no surprise why Republicans are being secretive about their final bill. The Senate’s second-ranking Republican admitted that the bill will be "80% the same" as the disastrous House bill—which even Trump calls "mean."3 It would yank coverage from 23 million Americans and reverse protections for people with pre-existing conditions.4 Just as in the House bill, we can expect a a not-so-well-disguised massive tax break for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, along with savage cuts to Medicaid, the essential program that provides health insurance coverage to kids, low-income families, and people with disabilities. Cutting Medicaid is wildly unpopular in both blue states and red.5
Republicans also want to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. Again, wildly unpopular.6 Most Americans, including nearly half of Trump voters, oppose defunding Planned Parenthood. One in five women has accessed health care services at Planned Parenthood, and most understand it as an essential resource for sexual and reproductive health care.7
And removing protections for people with pre-existing conditions ... Guess what! Terribly unpopular, too.7
So, of course, Senate Republicans have to keep their cruel bill a secret; they’re afraid of the righteous backlash from their constituents. Which means McConnell's only hope to repeal Obamacare is to railroad this bill through, using all the sweet talk and cajoling, quid pro quos, and threats available to him—and to cut voters out of the process.
That’s unacceptable, and MoveOn will fight tooth and nail to stop it.
MoveOn is driving an avalanche of phone calls, training 1,000 local organizers who'll help hold Congress accountable, releasing hard-hitting videos in each key state that highlight the audacious hypocrisy of each senator, and organizing local events to drive media coverage in the states of key senators who need to know that their constituents are paying attention.
Will you join me in supporting MoveOn's massive campaign to shine a light on the Senate Republicans’ secrecy and skullduggery—and stop the GOP's repeal of Obamacare?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
Thanks for all you do.
—Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Secrecy Surrounding Senate Health Bill Raises Alarms in Both Parties," The New York Times, June 15, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/10726?t=4&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
2. "Senate Republicans crack down on press access," The Hill, June 13, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/10727?t=6&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
3. "Trump, in Zigzag, Calls House Republicans’ Health Bill ‘Mean’," The New York Times, June 13, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/10728?t=8&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
4. Ibid.
5. "The Growing Red-State Backlash to Donald Trump," Vanity Fair Hive, March 22, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/10729?t=10&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
6. "Poll: Most Americans oppose defunding Planned Parenthood," The Washington Post, January 27, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/10730?t=12&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
7. "Planned Parenthood by the Numbers," Planned Parenthood, accessed June 17, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/10731?t=14&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
8. "Poll: Voters resist pre-existing condition opt-out," Politico, May 3, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/10732?t=16&akid=184970.10220574.ykPlF6
Want to support MoveOn's work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back towards sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on June 20th, 2017. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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