The Republican healthcare bill may have died a sad, lonely death Friday afternoon, but not before we got this humorous bit of journalism from the explainer website Vox.com.
Reporter Jeff Stein authored an article, titled “GOP senators are rushing to pass Graham-Cassidy. We asked 9 to explain what it does,” that begins with the none-too-subtle criticism that the Republican senators each seemed unable to explain the now-defunct bill in great detail.
“Republican senators are struggling to articulate why they are rushing to pass their last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare over the next 10 days before running into their September 30 deadline,” he wrote of the bill named for its author, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Stein added, “Far less clear is exactly how Graham-Cassidy would pull off this feat without resulting in millions of Americans losing their insurance — and the number of millions is still unknown, since any vote would likely have to come before the Congressional Budget Office completes its analysis of the bill.”
Now, what’s funny is that, for a few of the senators, Stein asked them to be broad in explaining the bill’s goals. He even used the word “broad”!
“I’m looking for a broad policy explanation for what Graham-Cassidy will do — how does it improve the American health care system?” Stein asked of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
The Vox.com reporter asked of Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, “In broad strokes, what do you think this bill is going to accomplish?”
Lastly, he asked of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, “I was hoping you could explain, in broad detail, what the point of Graham-Cassidy is.”
To be clear, Stein asked all nine senators several reasonable and provoking follow-up questions. Almost all of them were asked specifically to offer a “policy explanation” for what Graham-Cassidy was intended to accomplish.
The article itself is worth a read, especially in light of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announcing his opposition to it Friday afternoon. Still, as mentioned in this column’s opening, it’s a bit humorous to see the article ding the senators for being overly broad, and then read that Stein literally asked them to speak broadly.
