Thune passes the hot mess to Johnson, who can hardly wait to do a happy dance

Get ready for great television on July 4! Well, for someone.

“'Cause when push comes to shove, I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.” — King George III in Hamilton

Bear with me for a minute, please, and then I’ll get back to where we are now, below.

Everybody has their own reasons for hating (or, I suppose, loving) this bill. I’ve been in healthcare for decades; here’s what stuns me: Trump and the boys are all about women having more babies—soon!! Get going or the economy will crater!! It’s our duty!! Fact: Medicaid is the single largest payor for maternity care in the country, underwriting almost half of our births. And despite that medical help, we still have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates of our peer countries. We rank right down there with countries like Lebanon. Fact: US women have a better chance of surviving birth in the Gaza Strip., and their infants would do better in Hungary and Serbia. Fact: Rural kids—read, Republican—access Medicaid more than urbanites; rural elderly, too.

This bill is going to kick at least 16 million more people off Medicaid in total.¹ Who do you think will get hit first??? Given young childbearing age families are on the lower rungs of income earners, many of these same families will now also pay $1,600 more to assure a $12,000 tax cut for the Administration’s centimillionaire buds. And even more great news! Lower income moms can use a baby-celebrating $1K Trump Account to offset tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt from uninsured birth and child healthcare. Oh boy!

These people are crazy, have no idea how sperm and eggs make it to an actual birth and then to worker bee, and are a perfect reflection of our current national narcissism phase.

Find and contact your Representative here NOW. Tomorrow is likely too late.

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Where we are now

I needed to say all that; thank you for your tolerance. (deep breath) Here’s where we are:

• The deadline: July 4 signing, self-imposed by Congress and Trump: Great television on Independence Day, you know. We’re all about great TV.

• Senate: Passed the bill yesterday, July 1: After four days and (long) nights stalking and haranguing, John Thune (R-SD) got the cats herded, losing only three votes (Paul, Tillis and Collins²), but needing Vance to cast the tie-breaker, 51-50.

  • Read what’s in the bill passed by the Senate.

  • What got lost in the Senate dust: That bizarre ban on AI regulation; a proposed tax on clean energy—removing incentives wasn’t enough; a red state senator’s idea to sell off 15 million acres of one blue state alone.

• House:

  • The bill now has to merge with a revamped House version. So it moved on to the House, and swiftly to the floor, with Speaker Johnson (R-LA)³ basically quivering with excitement. He’s pushing to get it voted and over with today while half of America is getting ready for the holiday and not paying attention.

  • The House can afford to lose only three votes, and there are several representative bucking the bill for now. They’re under pressure, of course. Chip Roy (R-TX), the much louder House version of Collin’s pearl clutching before acquiescing, says the odds of it passing are a lot lower now after Senate additions. “Don’t you dare!,” says he-who-caved-quickly-last-time. #speakingofTACO

  • Daddy has summoned the hold-outs. That worked out fine last time for Trump; hold-outs crumpled immediately. That’s also another time he said “Don’t f--- around with Medicaid,” according to two lawmakers in the room. But they knew what he really meant.

• ‘Merica: Back in the real world, there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

  

  And FWIW, here’s today’s results of The Hill’s online poll on how readers feel about healthcare access with details of the Senate bill now known.

WE WILL UPDATE IN NOTES — keep an eye out there as you do your week.

1. 11.8 million will get kicked off Medicaid directly by the bill. At least another 4 million will lose coverage through other portions of the bill, including decrease Medicaid expansion dollars and hits to the ACA (Obamacare).

2. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against it because, well, he’s basically against everything. Thom Tillis (R-NC) not only voted against it because it would harm his state; he also said “hold my beer and watch this: I quit and you’re a horse’s rear end” when Trump threatened him. And then sweet Susan Collins (R-ME) did her usual shallow-breath pearl-clutching for days and, just to prove how strong she is, voted against it once she knew it had the votes to pass. You don’t warm a Senate seat for 28 years without learning how to appear simply agonized as you toss out any remaining moral fiber you may once have had. And while MANY!! are upset with Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for holding out for four days and nights and then voting for the bill after all, give the girl credit: Out of all these flappermouths, she got what she wanted for her state, neutralizing just about every aspect of the bill that would have harmed Alaskans (the rest of the country be damned, of course). But if one or two others had cut hard deals like she did, we wouldn’t be looking at this bill in the House today. (Thune just patted Collins on the head while she fussed; he knew she’d fold.)

3. Four out of 10 Louisiana residents are covered by Medicaid. I bet they’ll love this bill. Johnson’s up for reelection in 2026; he’ll probably win—it is LA, after all. But Dems certainly have some ad material.