Senator McCain announced his opposition to the latest GOP unhealthcare bill, which likely has doomed it. Although this particular zombie proposal has come back to life so many times, nobody will count on its death until the September 30 deadline drives a stake into its heart.
As for the unhealthcare bill itself, the best single description of its nature I've seen is in the New Yorker, by Atul Gawande, a staff writer and cancer surgeon. It begins:
"The fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans’ latest attempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration would not just undo the Affordable Care Act—it would also end Medicaid as we know it and our federal government’s half-century commitment to closing the country’s yawning gaps in health coverage. And it would do so without putting in place any credible resources or policies to replace the system it is overturning. If our country enacts this bill, it would be an act of mass suicide."
Why would congressional Republicans insist on a such an extreme, lunatic and suicidal bill opposed by nearly every healthcare institution and organization, and a majority of the citizenry? The usual excuse that Republican voters demand an end to Obamacare doesn't wash (since the numbers don't bear it out), according to Eric Levitz in New York Magazine. Only a small number of people actively support the bill, and nearly all of them are billionaire GOP donors--principally the Koch brothers. This whole exercise is further evidence that 48 United States Senators are bought on a continuing basis.
Such is one result of extreme income inequality. Another was quantified this week in how much income most people have lost so that the very few can become horribly wealthy.
The unhealthcare bill fight dominated this week's Washington frenzy but there were notable additions to what's known about the progress of the Russian interference investigation, helpfully summarized by Ryan Lizza.
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