Trumpcare

The CBO sums up their report on the new version of TrumpCare with one sentence: "CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the American Health Care Act would reduce federal deficits by $119 billion over the coming decade and increase the number of people who are uninsured by 23 million in 2026 relative to current law." The original version would have kicked 24 million off their health insurance but it would have reduced the deficit by $150 billion.

A new poll of GA-06 voters is a dire warning to congressional Republicans. Paul Ryan's SuperPAC has put more money into the campaign on behalf of Karen Handel than any outside group has ever spent on any congressional race in history. And those millions and millions of dollars appear to have been wasted as Jon Ossoff has pulled ahead:

Wednesday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a new study that goes a long way towards shedding light on what enactment of TrumpCare would actually mean to the millions of people with pre-existing conditions.

House Speaker Paul Ryan speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 8, 2017. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
 Published in partnership with Shadowproof.
The American Health Care Act (Trumpcare) recently approved by the Republican-controlled House is a truly terrible bill. It would cause millions to lose Medicaid coverage to finance a large tax cut for the top 1 percent.

Among the standard GOP lies about TrumpCare-- promulgated by Ryan's office-- is that the process was not rushed or chaotic.

Yesterday the DCCC targeted 10 Republicans whose seats appear vulnerable with new digital ads about their votes for TrumpCare. There were 217 Republicans who voted for it but the DCCC picked 10: Martha McSally (AZ), Jeff Denham (CA), David Valadao (CA), Carlos Curbelo (FL), Kevin Yoder (KS), Bruce Poliquin (ME), Jason Lewis (MN), Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ), Claudia Tenney (NY) and John Faso (NY). Except for Frelinghuysen and the 3 freshmen (Faso, Tenney and Lewis), they're all failed targets from last year.

Steve Stivers (R-OH), the chair of the NRCC, told the NY Times a few days ago that the Republicans had to pass Ryan's TrumpCare bill to "keep our own base excited." But even the GOP base isn't excited. A new poll shows 78% of Hillary voters strongly opposed to it while just 23% of Trump voters are strongly in favor of it.

The DCCC-- as it is wont to do-- is putting all its eggs in one basket. Their operating premise is that Trump and Ryan will cause the congressional Republicans to be so loathed that voters will go to the polls in 2018 with only one thing in mind-- replace Republicans with Democrats. It could happen. If it does, even the worthless, garbage candidates being recruited by the DCCC will be swept into office (for a term or two before the GOP reclaims those seats).

House Republicans had a tough choice Thursday when Ryan and Trump forced a vote on the phenomenally unpopular and destructive TrumpCare legislation. If members voted NO, they could be in trouble with the hardcore Republicans back home who have been brainwashed by Hate Talk Radio and Fox News and who insisted on a repeal no matter the consequences. That kind of trouble could lead to a primary from the right.

Bruce Poliquin represents the "other" Maine congressional district, almost the whole state minus Portland, Augusta and the southwest coastal strip. He's got Lewiston-Auburn, Bangor and everything up to the Canadian borders on the west, north and east. Politically, it's a swing district. Obama beat McCain by 10 points and beat Romney by 9 points, Last year, though, although Maine went for Hillary, ME-02 went for Trump 51.4% to 41.1%.