Roberts: Governor needs to weigh in on GOP plan.

It’s now been six days since Senate Republicans unveiled their plan to slash health care for the poor and taxes for the wealthy. It’s now been five days since we learned the disastrous impact the bill would have on Arizona. That our leaders could either: » Raise taxes by $7.1 BILLION to negate the effects of “Trumpcare.” Or, they could:

» Kick more than 400,000 poor Arizonans off of the state’s Medicaid plan.

» Watch hospitals struggle and go under, as they are left holding the bag.

» Wait for new federal mandates to force more costs onto the state, leaving our leaders to either find the funds or cut off the disabled and elderly.

So here we are. It’s Wednesday. Do you know where Gov. Doug Ducey is?

Since the Senate bill’s release, the governor has, in the strongest possible terms, publicly said … nothing.

Last Wednesday, the day before the bill was released, he wrote to Sen. John McCain outlining five changes he’d like to see, based on the House bill and “bits and pieces we’ve read in the media.”

“Repeal is important,” he wrote, “and the replacement must be carefully crafted to ensure that the rug is not pulled out from under people.”

Well, the rug went a-flyin’ on Thursday, when the Senate bill was released.

This bill is a disaster, and several other Republican governors haven’t been afraid to say so. Here’s Ohio Gov. John Kasich: “I have deep concerns with details in the U.S. Senate’s plan to fix America’s health care system and the resources needed to help our most vulnerable, including those who are dealing with drug addiction, mental illness and chronic health problems and have nowhere else to turn.”

Here’s Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval: “The proposed bill will dramatically reduce coverage and will negatively impact our future state budgets.”

Even former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has spoken up, noting that we’ll all pay more as the ranks of the uninsured grow: “We’re going to pay for it one way or another; there are no free lunches.”

To be fair, perhaps our governor has just been too busy to publicly condemn the health-care bill that would leave millions of Americans without insurance in order to give tax breaks to those who don’t have to worry about such things. Earlier this week, he attended a Colorado summit of the Koch brothers’ network of conservative bazillionaires. (The Koch network doesn’t think the Senate bill goes far enough.) Spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said Ducey is still studying the Senate bill.

“It appears the bill is being revised, so we will continue to monitor, review and provide comments, fiscal analysis and recommendations for amendments as it evolves,” he said.

Due to opposition in GOP ranks, a vote on the bill has been delayed until after the Fourth of July break. Neither McCain nor Sen. Jeff Flake has said how they’re voting. Ducey could give them — especially Flake, who is up for re-election — the political cover to vote no. He should give them the political cover to vote no. Speak up, governor.