The left is reportedly throwing the kitchen sink at the Graham-Cassidy (GCHJ) bill in a last-ditch attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare using “full war footing.”
“The reality is that the progressive coalition has never been more unified or determined than they are right now,” Organizing for Action spokesman Jesse Lehrich told Politico.
Leftist activists have reportedly launched a six-figure advertising campaign by pro-Obamacare group Save My Care, have hosted several rallies, and have run TV and digital ads for Save My Care to urge Republicans such as Senators John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins to vote against the bill presented by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Republicans in the House and Senate are set to vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill on September 30.
Democratic Senators held a health care rally on Tuesday, sponsored by George Soros-backed MoveOn.org and supported by Planned Parenthood, outside of the capitol to oppose the Graham-Cassidy legislation.
Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) were among the Democrats rallying a small crowd of constituents at the event.
“People will die,” Sen. Cardin said, according to Breitbart News.
“Thousands of people a year will die if that legislation becomes law,” Sen. Sanders (I-VT) echoed. Sen. Schumer reportedly slammed the Republicans’ health plan proposal as “evil.”
According to Politico, Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn.org, vowed that activists would return to Capitol Hill for daily events next week as McConnell squeezes his on-the-fence members to support the bill, which would transform Obamacare funding into block grants for states, make deep cuts to Medicaid, and undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Democrats tweeted on Wednesday that the repeal and replace of the failing Obamacare bill is “just plain cruel”:
During a speech to the Gates Foundation in New York on Wednesday, former President Barack Obama said he found it “aggravating” that the Republican Party is seeking to inflict “real human suffering” with their attempts to repeal Obamacare.
“When I see people trying to undo that hard-won progress for the 50th or 60th time with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage or roll back protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions, the cancer survivor or the expecting mom or child with autism or asthma, for whom coverage would once again be untenable, it is aggravating,” Obama said. “And all of this being done without any demonstrable economic or actuarial or plain common sense rationale. It frustrates—and it is certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents.”
The Graham-Cassidy bill is co-sponsored Dean Heller (R-NV), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
According to Cassidy’s website, the GCHJ repeals Obamacare Individual and Employer Mandates, repeals the Obamacare Medical Device Tax, strengthens the ability for states to waive Obamacare regulations, returns power to the states and patients by equalizing the treatment between Medicaid Expansion and non-expansion states through an equitable block grant distribution, and protects patients with pre-existing medical conditions.
President Donald Trump reaffirmed his support for Graham-Cassidy on Wednesday, tweeting, “I would not sign Graham-Cassidy if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions. It does! A great Bill. Repeal & Replace”: