An outpouring of constituent anger is spilling forth after the GOP’s narrow passage of a vote to open Senate debate on the Obamacare repeal bill. Senator John McCain dramatically swooped in for his Congressional return at the final moment to bring the Republican tally to 50 votes, and Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking decision.
From here, things are fixing to get scary for the 34 million Americans who could lose health care under a still-murky bill that Congress will hash out in the coming weeks and months. Although it’s possible that the next vote, which concerns the 2015 Obamacare repeal version, could halt the process entirely, the GOP could continue to prevail, and even Ted Cruz’s amendment on catastrophic plan sales and a $100 billion Medicaid cushion cannot fully soften the final blow.
This doesn’t even begin to touch the universal confusion surrounding the newest GOP buzzterm, the so-called “skinny repeal” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is waving around. Understandably, people are afraid of what shall come. And they’re angry as hell, as the following reactions indicate. Many people lashed out at John McCain for benefiting from the best possible health care, which his senatorial plan will continue to allow, while voting for other Americans to find insurance out of reach.
John McCain, this is what you voted for.
Stealing 32 million people's health care.
Enjoy your chemo and radiation THAT WE PAID FOR. pic.twitter.com/Q4kUV7114v— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly 🌸 (@AynRandPaulRyan) July 25, 2017
From one cancer survivor to another, John McCain, don't come at me with your soaring rhetoric while I'm paying for your excellent treatment.
— Matt Farley (@Matt_Farley) July 25, 2017
There's a certain cruel irony of John McCain coming back to vote against healthcare, at a time when his life depends on having good care.
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) July 25, 2017
messed up stuff so McCain gets all the coverage he needs for his brain cancer but won't let others have the same opportunity 🙄 #SaveACA
— 💖 Kayla 💖 (@swiftlalonde97) July 25, 2017
Wait, so John McCain can legitimately die ANY minute but can't see how other people should deserve healthcare? SHAME. Disgusting.
— Preston “Side Bunk” Mitchum (@PrestonMitchum) July 25, 2017
Fuck the right, fuck John McCain, fuck the Democrats applauding him gutting healthcare. These people won't help you. Single payer forever.
— mr. “just joined a new forum” (@Papapishu) July 25, 2017
Other GOP senators, including Ted Cruz and swing voters Dean Heller and Shelly Capito, are also feeling the heat on social media.
.@SenDeanHeller, fun fact: we spent $2mil+ last cycle in NV. Might want to start practice saying the words "fmr. senator." See you soon.
— VoteVets (@votevets) July 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/lgbtqNV/status/889950255726247936
I guess when @SenCapito said that if she had to be the one to kill the bill she was lying? pic.twitter.com/ZLyX1e9jYM
— Pathological People Pleaser (@kristy_joy) July 25, 2017
.@SenDeanHeller changed his healthcare vote after a pro-Trump super PAC pummeled him w/ ads.
How money in politics works, folks. #SaveACA
— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) July 25, 2017
Quick question: as a constituent, who do you reach out to when your senators won't take calls and faxes at all? Cc: @tedcruz @JohnCornyn
— Txnewsprincess (@txnewsprincess) July 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/belikeaduck/status/889931851430850561
Other folks are taking on the Senate as a whole and posting ultimately sobering photos and statistics to make their point.
https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/889941580290904064
This pastor walked 400 miles to DC to tell the senate not to rip away his daughter's Medicaid pic.twitter.com/CoisdQEPdo
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) July 25, 2017
The Senate , John McCain , VP Pence
This is my mother who relies on Medicare to live. You are supposed to be Christians but you are devils. pic.twitter.com/ick8pZZbOX— Jacob4Kids (@jacob4kids) July 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/MaverickofKain/status/889933359190822912
The next few weeks will prove key for what will happen next, and all debate — of both the Congressional and constituent-based varieties — shall be eventful.