Senate ACA Repeal bill fails (again)

[teaotter]

In a dramatic late-night vote, three Republican senators join all 48 Democrats in voting down the so-called "skinny" repeal bill. (Politico)

I was following twitter feeds of some of the reporters at the Senate during the vote-a-rama, and everyone was pretty much stunned by the turn of events. For more than an hour, Republicans refused to close the previous vote so that they'd have more time to strong-arm McCain, Murkowski, and Collins. No one knew what was being said, so reporters were describing body language and hoping. I couldn't believe it was going to go our way, even when Pence left the building.

And then the votes came in.

WE WON!

(Okay, nothing's officially dead until we get a better ACA repair bill in play, but still -- this was supposed to be a done deal in January and we've fought it to a fucking standstill and I AM SO PROUD OF US, LOOK HOW STRONG WE ARE TOGETHER!)

Comments

[tielan]

\o/

I was on Twitter just as the news came in and the Americans I follow - I can't tell you how glad I am that they didn't get the votes. But DAMN that was horrendously close.

GO AMERICA!

[st_aurafina]

Go you guys, go, go!! You're all amazing! This is so heartening!

[ilyena_sylph]

Holy crap.

YAY!

[executrix]

The battle's done, and we kinda won, so we sound our victory cheer!
Tell me, where do we go from here?

PS--Jeopardy question: Which Senator went to Washington to vote despite being in treatment for advanced cancer?
Who is Mazie Hirono, D-HW?

[teaotter]

I know, I just started hearing about her and her cancer this week. But she's a fucking hero, much more so than McCain.

[lynnenne]

Yay, congrats!

[laceblade]

Just, amazing.

I was so tired all day from having stayed up to watch this all unfold on twitter, lol.

[chanter1944]

I felt a bit guilty for not staying up and watching it all unfold on twitter last night, but I just couldn't take it. I was convinced Skinny Repeal would pass, likely by a tie-breaker vote from Pence, and I... with everything over the last year, I just couldn't watch. So I went to bed. ... And woke up to a stunning story indeed! I never, ever expected that one! I thought, if anyone, Moore-? Capito? I can't splel, would be the third maybe-kinda-sorta-possible no vote; she was before. But... holy cow, Senator John McCain!

I've been buoyed by this all day.

[teaotter]

I meant to miss it, I really did. Like you, I didn't was convinced it'd pass and I didn't want to spend the spoons on it. But then I got sucked into the sudden hope on twitter and couldn't walk away.