As Democrats breathed a sigh of relief after the Senate GOP’s healthcare bill died this Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that he was going to say ‘f*ck it’ and move forward with a plan to repeal Obamacare without a replacement.
That same afternoon, Republican senators Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Shelley Moore Capito (WV) announced that they would oppose the plan. Capito’s statement that she “did not come to Washington to hurt people” went hugely viral.
“My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians,” she said. “With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.”
My latest statement on the Senate health care bill & planned vote to repeal Obamacare: pic.twitter.com/yAVIxgptCu
— Shelley Moore Capito (@SenCapito) July 18, 2017
Collins, who had been opposed to the GOP repeal plans since 2015, soon followed suit, saying “I do not think that it’s constructive to repeal a law that is so interwoven within our health care system without having a replacement plan in place.”
I will vote no on the motion to proceed to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. I voted against this same proposal in 2015. pic.twitter.com/Szuke5zYNL
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) July 18, 2017
When Murkowski spoke up, she warned the Senate to “take a step back and engage in a bipartisan process to address the failures of the ACA and stabilize the individual markets.”
My recent statement on the Senate Healthcare Process: pic.twitter.com/j19Ok1KwWw
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) July 18, 2017
The fact that the three lawmakers who killed McConnell’s scorched earth repeal plan were women didn’t go unnoticed by social media. As The Atlantic pointed out last year, Republican women in Congress are more likely to legislate in a bipartisan manner as opposed to their male colleagues. But most notably, the initial process of crafting the repeal legislation was closed off to women, with 13 male GOP senators taking part. After a major backlash, Capito was allowed to attend a meeting, but the die had already been cast. An agenda meted out by 13 men was ultimately killed by 3 women.
As @asfram points out it's the revenge of the GOP women – Capito, Collins, Murkowski – all frozen out of the initial health working group
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) July 18, 2017
Poetic: the worst bill for women's health in a generation – written without women – is now failing without women. https://t.co/wKRUxrILvr
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) July 18, 2017
Capito, Murkowski, Collins – 3 Republican women saying no to Repeal-only.
Now we know why 13 GOP men wrote the bill in the dark.
— Justin Kanew (@Kanew) July 18, 2017
[HuffPo] Featured image via Wikipedia
