Late last night, Trump blamed Ryan for the repeal/replace failure — before it was totally dead. That’s astounding, and it doesn’t help rally House members. But the even bigger news is the Senate GOP, reported by NBC this morning: The Senate GOP leadership has tweeted that the House bill *cannot* evade a Senate filibuster, meaning that there is no way the House bill can become law. That dumps an ice bucket of cold water on every House Republican. Why would the Senate GOP announce this position this morning? They don’t want this bill to pass, because they don’t want to vote on it at all. So why would a Republican House member choose the worst option: casting a “yes” vote for a disastrous and disastrously unpopular bill, and also failing to repeal anyway? See the report:
“Does the Senate want this bill to pass?
That’s the other part of this equation. Don’t miss what Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, tweeted last night: “FYI: The ‘Byrd Rule’ is actually a law.” Translation for those unfamiliar with Senate arcana: The legislation that House Republicans are trying to pass probably don’t meet the rules that can avoid a Senate filibuster. Think about it, Cornyn is warning his House colleagues that this legislation can’t pass the Senate. And that’s precisely what Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) stated earlier this month: “I would say to my friends in the House of Representatives with whom I serve, ‘Do not walk the plank and vote for a bill that cannot pass the Senate and then have to face the consequences of that vote.”
