It wasn't just McCain
From CNN:
The 2 senators with late-stage cancer who voted to save Obamacare
Sen. John McCain was the focus of much media attention this week when he dramatically returned to Washington following recent brain surgery and cast the decisive vote scuttling GOP efforts to pass a health care plan early Friday morning.
But he wasn't the only senator battling late-stage cancer whose vote effectively saved Obamacare. On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, also voted against the "skinny repeal" bill.
Hirono announced she was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer in May. Her doctor noticed an abnormality on an X-ray and discovered that it was kidney cancer, which had already spread to her seventh rib. She had a kidney removed days after the diagnosis and later underwent surgery to remove a lesion on her rib in late June.
Addressing the Senate late Thursday night, Hirono spoke out against the GOP's health care plan, emotionally discussing her upbringing in rural Japan, where she lost a 2-year-old sister to pneumonia and worried about her mother getting sick without access to medical care. She then talked about her own health.
"When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer," Hirono said, "I heard from so many of my colleagues, including so many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle, who wrote me such wonderful notes."
"You showed me your care. You showed me your compassion," she stated, before asking, "where is that tonight?"
To my GOP colleagues, after I was diagnosed with cancer, you showed me your care. You showed me your compassion. So where is that tonight?
pic.twitter.com/BfWMIDd0Vo
(Twitter video, 4:46)
- Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) July 28, 2017
Speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday, Hirono said she spoke in part because "we were on the brink of voting on a bill that would have resulted in 17 million people getting knocked off health care."
McCain was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer after undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot above his eyebrow. He remained in Arizona last week to recover from the surprise operation but returned to the Senate floor Tuesday.
McCain then delivered a landmark speech on the need for bipartisanship, noting his current health condition.
"I stand here looking a little worse for wear," he said, while noting his gratitude for the opportunity to serve in light of the diagnosis.
Departing the Capitol, McCain -- who was joined by fellow Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine in opposing the GOP bill -- told reporters that he made his decision because "it was the right vote."
According to three congressional sources, CNN reports that McCain is expected to return to Arizona on Monday to begin cancer treatment. Hirono continues to receive care at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington.
From Slate:
McCain Got the Credit, but Don’t Forget: Collins and Murkowski Killed This Bill
Early Friday morning, Sen. John McCain showed up to work with cancer and cast the final, and most dramatic vote, to block his party’s effort to repeal Obamacare. He received a round of applause from Democrats, cheers from protesters outside the capitol, and reportedly said of his vote, “I thought it was the right thing to do.”
But two other Republicans were at least equally-and perhaps more-instrumental in killing the latest, and maybe final version of the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare: Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.
Collins, the moderate four-term Republican from Maine, was one of the first senators to come out against the earliest Senate version of a repeal-and-replace bill. She hasn’t wavered since. Collins was one of two Republican senators to vote “no” on the motion to move Trumpcare in its multiple and sometimes yet-to-be specified incarnations to the Senate floor for debate.
On Twitter, journalist Al Giordano points out that during the 2009 debate on the Affordable Care Act, President Obama and the Democrats did all they could to gain Collins’ support, including extending a personal invitation to the White House to discuss the policy. She ultimately voted “no” but showed greater openness to voting for the measure than she ever did in the entire repeal-and-replace drama. As late as November 2009, one month before Obamacare passed in the Senate, Collins said, “I have ruled out voting for this bill, but I still very much want to vote for a bill and that is why I am continuing to have discussions.”
Contrast that with the Republican effort. Collins-along with all other Republican women-were excluded from the working group that designed the initial version of the Senate bill. Earlier this week, Rep. Blake Farenthold said he’d want to “duel” her if she weren’t a woman.
The second Republican to oppose the final “skinny repeal” measure was Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who along with Collins was the only other Republican to oppose the motion to proceed and was also threatened by a male colleague from the other chamber in the days leading up to the vote.
Despite being left out of the discussions to craft the bill, Murkowski had seemed much more open to voting for some version of repeal and replace than Collins. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even added Alaska-specific sweeteners to the bigger repeal-and-replace package in order to try to win her over.
It ultimately didn’t work. Nor did bullying from President Donald Trump and his Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who reportedly threatened her state’s road projects, drilling rights, and other issues. In response, Murkowski used her powerful perch as the chairwoman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to indefinitely postpone hearings on nominations to the Interior and Energy departments and didn’t budge on Trumpcare. (One possible reason why: Murkowski has already faced a conservative primary backlash in her state and survived, winning a write-in campaign for her Senate seat in 2010 after having lost the primary to a Tea Party candidate.)
Ultimately, McCain swooped in to save the day in dramatic fashion. He deserves the praise he is getting for it. But it was Murkowski and Collins more than anybody that ensured the defeat of Trumpcare, and maybe the survival of Obamacare.
From Slate:
Collins and Murkowski Stood Up for Womankind Over the Threats of Men
Two female senators, perhaps the most moderate Republicans in the Senate, have gotten many well-deserved thank-yous for going against their party and voting down a “skinny” repeal of Obamacare late Thursday night. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have stood stalwart against a few instances of GOP B.S. this year, including the Senate’s initial Obamacare repeal attempt and Betsy DeVos’ nomination as Secretary of Education.
But their votes on Thursday came at a particularly critical moment, under extreme pressure and gendered attacks from members of their own party. One unforgivably doofy Republican Congressman from Texas said on a radio show that he would like to have a duel-to-the-death with the “female senators” who stood in the way of Obamacare repeal, but since they are but ladies, he would hold himself back. (Wonder if he’d roll back that statement now that John McCain, a verifiable man, cast the final, deciding vote against the legislation.) When asked about Murkowski and Collins, a Republican Congressman from Georgia said someone should “snatch a knot in [the Senate’s] ass,” meaning hit them. Trump specifically targeted Murkowski on Twitter, riling up his supporters to go after her, and the Secretary of the Interior threatened to stop Alaska drilling projects if she didn’t vote the president’s way.
Weaker legislators might have stuck to the party line in defiance of their consciences. (See: the Republican senators who said they’d only vote for the bill if they got a guarantee that it wouldn’t become law.) Standing up to a crowd of peers making glib references to physical violence and real threats to legislative priorities could not have been easy.
Braver still was Collins’ public statement on why she voted against the bill. She makes arguments against both the Affordable Care Act as is and the plans Senate Republicans have proposed, then outlines a key reason for her opposition to the bills her peers wrote: the provision that would have prevented Planned Parenthood from getting reimbursed for any services provided to patients on Medicaid, who make up more than half the health organization’s client base.
Collins’ defense of Planned Parenthood was as accurate and passionate as any Democrat’s should be, far beyond the compassion or mental capacity of her male contemporaries in the GOP:
Millions of women across the country rely on Planned Parenthood for family planning, cancer screening, and basic preventive health care services. Denying women access to Planned Parenthood not only runs contrary to our goal of letting patients choose the health care provider who best fits their needs, but it also could impede timely access to care.
If Planned Parenthood were defunded, other family planning clinics in Maine, including community health centers, would see a 63 percent increase in their patient load. Some patients would need to drive greater distances to receive care, while others would have to wait longer for an appointment.
Collins also did away with the persistent right-wing lie that federal taxpayer money is funding abortions:
Let me be clear that this is not about abortion. Federal law already prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk.
This is about interfering with the ability of a woman to choose the health care provider who is right for her. This harmful provision should have no place in legislation that purports to be about restoring patient choices and freedom.
It’s so unnerving to read an honest, humane assessment of women’s health care from a Republican! Murkowski, too, has been a vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood’s continued eligibility for Medicaid reimbursements and federal family-planning grants. This in spite of the very real risk that being women advocating for so-called women’s issues could further alienate Republican men in the Senate who didn’t even think women belonged at the drafting table in the first place. Together, with their adjoining desks, Collins and Murkowski have proven that female legislators have some of the strongest spines in Congress. That strength comes in numbers, even when that number is two.
This entry was originally posted at http://thnidu.dreamwidth.org/1641030.html. You can comment here, or there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth ID.
comments there so far.
The 2 senators with late-stage cancer who voted to save Obamacare
Sen. John McCain was the focus of much media attention this week when he dramatically returned to Washington following recent brain surgery and cast the decisive vote scuttling GOP efforts to pass a health care plan early Friday morning.
But he wasn't the only senator battling late-stage cancer whose vote effectively saved Obamacare. On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, also voted against the "skinny repeal" bill.
Hirono announced she was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer in May. Her doctor noticed an abnormality on an X-ray and discovered that it was kidney cancer, which had already spread to her seventh rib. She had a kidney removed days after the diagnosis and later underwent surgery to remove a lesion on her rib in late June.
Addressing the Senate late Thursday night, Hirono spoke out against the GOP's health care plan, emotionally discussing her upbringing in rural Japan, where she lost a 2-year-old sister to pneumonia and worried about her mother getting sick without access to medical care. She then talked about her own health.
"When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer," Hirono said, "I heard from so many of my colleagues, including so many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle, who wrote me such wonderful notes."
"You showed me your care. You showed me your compassion," she stated, before asking, "where is that tonight?"
To my GOP colleagues, after I was diagnosed with cancer, you showed me your care. You showed me your compassion. So where is that tonight?
pic.twitter.com/BfWMIDd0Vo
(Twitter video, 4:46)
- Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) July 28, 2017
Speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday, Hirono said she spoke in part because "we were on the brink of voting on a bill that would have resulted in 17 million people getting knocked off health care."
McCain was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer after undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot above his eyebrow. He remained in Arizona last week to recover from the surprise operation but returned to the Senate floor Tuesday.
McCain then delivered a landmark speech on the need for bipartisanship, noting his current health condition.
"I stand here looking a little worse for wear," he said, while noting his gratitude for the opportunity to serve in light of the diagnosis.
Departing the Capitol, McCain -- who was joined by fellow Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine in opposing the GOP bill -- told reporters that he made his decision because "it was the right vote."
According to three congressional sources, CNN reports that McCain is expected to return to Arizona on Monday to begin cancer treatment. Hirono continues to receive care at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington.
From Slate:
McCain Got the Credit, but Don’t Forget: Collins and Murkowski Killed This Bill
Early Friday morning, Sen. John McCain showed up to work with cancer and cast the final, and most dramatic vote, to block his party’s effort to repeal Obamacare. He received a round of applause from Democrats, cheers from protesters outside the capitol, and reportedly said of his vote, “I thought it was the right thing to do.”
But two other Republicans were at least equally-and perhaps more-instrumental in killing the latest, and maybe final version of the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare: Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.
Collins, the moderate four-term Republican from Maine, was one of the first senators to come out against the earliest Senate version of a repeal-and-replace bill. She hasn’t wavered since. Collins was one of two Republican senators to vote “no” on the motion to move Trumpcare in its multiple and sometimes yet-to-be specified incarnations to the Senate floor for debate.
On Twitter, journalist Al Giordano points out that during the 2009 debate on the Affordable Care Act, President Obama and the Democrats did all they could to gain Collins’ support, including extending a personal invitation to the White House to discuss the policy. She ultimately voted “no” but showed greater openness to voting for the measure than she ever did in the entire repeal-and-replace drama. As late as November 2009, one month before Obamacare passed in the Senate, Collins said, “I have ruled out voting for this bill, but I still very much want to vote for a bill and that is why I am continuing to have discussions.”
Contrast that with the Republican effort. Collins-along with all other Republican women-were excluded from the working group that designed the initial version of the Senate bill. Earlier this week, Rep. Blake Farenthold said he’d want to “duel” her if she weren’t a woman.
The second Republican to oppose the final “skinny repeal” measure was Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who along with Collins was the only other Republican to oppose the motion to proceed and was also threatened by a male colleague from the other chamber in the days leading up to the vote.
Despite being left out of the discussions to craft the bill, Murkowski had seemed much more open to voting for some version of repeal and replace than Collins. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even added Alaska-specific sweeteners to the bigger repeal-and-replace package in order to try to win her over.
It ultimately didn’t work. Nor did bullying from President Donald Trump and his Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who reportedly threatened her state’s road projects, drilling rights, and other issues. In response, Murkowski used her powerful perch as the chairwoman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to indefinitely postpone hearings on nominations to the Interior and Energy departments and didn’t budge on Trumpcare. (One possible reason why: Murkowski has already faced a conservative primary backlash in her state and survived, winning a write-in campaign for her Senate seat in 2010 after having lost the primary to a Tea Party candidate.)
Ultimately, McCain swooped in to save the day in dramatic fashion. He deserves the praise he is getting for it. But it was Murkowski and Collins more than anybody that ensured the defeat of Trumpcare, and maybe the survival of Obamacare.
From Slate:
Collins and Murkowski Stood Up for Womankind Over the Threats of Men
Two female senators, perhaps the most moderate Republicans in the Senate, have gotten many well-deserved thank-yous for going against their party and voting down a “skinny” repeal of Obamacare late Thursday night. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have stood stalwart against a few instances of GOP B.S. this year, including the Senate’s initial Obamacare repeal attempt and Betsy DeVos’ nomination as Secretary of Education.
But their votes on Thursday came at a particularly critical moment, under extreme pressure and gendered attacks from members of their own party. One unforgivably doofy Republican Congressman from Texas said on a radio show that he would like to have a duel-to-the-death with the “female senators” who stood in the way of Obamacare repeal, but since they are but ladies, he would hold himself back. (Wonder if he’d roll back that statement now that John McCain, a verifiable man, cast the final, deciding vote against the legislation.) When asked about Murkowski and Collins, a Republican Congressman from Georgia said someone should “snatch a knot in [the Senate’s] ass,” meaning hit them. Trump specifically targeted Murkowski on Twitter, riling up his supporters to go after her, and the Secretary of the Interior threatened to stop Alaska drilling projects if she didn’t vote the president’s way.
Weaker legislators might have stuck to the party line in defiance of their consciences. (See: the Republican senators who said they’d only vote for the bill if they got a guarantee that it wouldn’t become law.) Standing up to a crowd of peers making glib references to physical violence and real threats to legislative priorities could not have been easy.
Braver still was Collins’ public statement on why she voted against the bill. She makes arguments against both the Affordable Care Act as is and the plans Senate Republicans have proposed, then outlines a key reason for her opposition to the bills her peers wrote: the provision that would have prevented Planned Parenthood from getting reimbursed for any services provided to patients on Medicaid, who make up more than half the health organization’s client base.
Collins’ defense of Planned Parenthood was as accurate and passionate as any Democrat’s should be, far beyond the compassion or mental capacity of her male contemporaries in the GOP:
Millions of women across the country rely on Planned Parenthood for family planning, cancer screening, and basic preventive health care services. Denying women access to Planned Parenthood not only runs contrary to our goal of letting patients choose the health care provider who best fits their needs, but it also could impede timely access to care.
If Planned Parenthood were defunded, other family planning clinics in Maine, including community health centers, would see a 63 percent increase in their patient load. Some patients would need to drive greater distances to receive care, while others would have to wait longer for an appointment.
Collins also did away with the persistent right-wing lie that federal taxpayer money is funding abortions:
Let me be clear that this is not about abortion. Federal law already prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk.
This is about interfering with the ability of a woman to choose the health care provider who is right for her. This harmful provision should have no place in legislation that purports to be about restoring patient choices and freedom.
It’s so unnerving to read an honest, humane assessment of women’s health care from a Republican! Murkowski, too, has been a vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood’s continued eligibility for Medicaid reimbursements and federal family-planning grants. This in spite of the very real risk that being women advocating for so-called women’s issues could further alienate Republican men in the Senate who didn’t even think women belonged at the drafting table in the first place. Together, with their adjoining desks, Collins and Murkowski have proven that female legislators have some of the strongest spines in Congress. That strength comes in numbers, even when that number is two.
This entry was originally posted at http://thnidu.dreamwidth.org/1641030.html. You can comment here, or there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth ID.
comments there so far.