USA TODAY International Edition
Liberals’ call to action: ‘ Crank up the outrage’
Outside groups will fight health bill while lawmakers take their recess
WASHINGTON Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to delay a vote on a GOP health care plan gives Democrats a big opportunity to seize the July 4 recess to dial up the pressure to kill the bill for good.
Several outside liberal groups plan campaigns over the congressional recess to highlight the stories of real Americans who could lose health care — and target vulnerable and moderate Republican senators with paid media, phone calls and protests.
“It’s time to crank up the outrage and tell all senators to vote NO” on the Senate bill, said Paola Mendoza, a national organizer for the Women’s March, which has created a hashtag on Twitter highlighting personal stories titled #HowTheACASavedMyLife.
Though McConnell, R- Ky., conceded Republicans’ goal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would not happen before members of Congress leave town Friday, the bill is not dead. Senate lawmakers said they hope to reach a compromise and pointed to the House’s success in passing a bill despite early setbacks. McConnell is working to bridge deep differences among moderate and conservative members of his party.
Fueling resistance to the bill is a report this week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that said up to 22 million Americans would lose their health care under the GOP plan. The Senate Republican plan would roll back Medicaid expansion under Obamacare while offering less generous subsidies to those who purchase health insurance on the individual market.
Democrats said the recess is critical to ensuring that Republican leaders fail in cutting a deal within their conference and without Democratic input or votes. “Republican leaders have made clear they are delaying the vote specifically to get squishy senators like Shelley Moore Capito to vote yes for Medicaid cuts, and we must not allow a bait and switch,” said Progressive Change Campaign Committee co- founder Adam Green.
Wednesday, his group dropped a television ad featuring a woman named “Priscilla” and her 38year- old daughter who has cerebral palsy and could die from seizures without health insurance.
It’s part of a burst of activity aimed at vulnerable Republican senators over the July 4 weekend that will include sit- ins outside lawmakers’ district offices by disability activists; paid television media targeting members, including Sens. Capito of West Virginia and Dean Heller of Nevada; and social media campaigns.
According to MoveOn. org, one of the main resistance organizing groups, its activists will flood district offices with calls, hold organizing cookouts and show up at July 4 parades in different cities with signs reading, “Health care is our right” and “Health care is patriotic.” Our Revolution, a liberal group affiliated with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I- Vt., is organizing a series of protests, including sit- ins at Senate offices July 6.
Republicans plan to have their own digital campaign and hold news conferences that include testimonials from Americans who’ve been “negatively impacted” by Obamacare, said Republican National Committee spokesman Rick Gorka.
McConnell acknowledged that if Republicans can’t pass a bill soon, they may have to work with Democrats, who will demand the preservation of Obamacare.
“People get really emotional about health care, but Republicans have clearly lost the narrative on this, and the discussion has moved towards ‘ Who are you taking health care away from?’ ” said former Republican House member Tom Davis of Virginia.