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July 25, 2017 01:16 PM UTC

Gardner Breaks Promises to Colorado as Health Care Repeal Advances

  • 35 Comments
  • by: ProgressNow Colorado
Sen. Cory Gardner (R).

POLS UPDATE #2: Colorado Democratic Party chair Morgan Carroll:

“Today, Republican Senator Cory Gardner decided that tax breaks for millionaires are more important than health care for millions and more important than the survival of Colorado’s rural hospitals.

“Just 24 percent of Coloradans approve of the Republican health care repeal, and only 27 percent of Coloradans approve of Cory Gardner. Those numbers will only get worse as hundreds of thousands of Coloradans are set to lose their health care and premiums are set to skyrocket because of Gardner’s vote.

“Senator Gardner might think that he can get away with this reckless vote since he’s not up for re-election until 2020. He is mistaken. Colorado voters will not forget that when their health care — and in some cases, their lives — were on the line, Cory Gardner sold them out to give a tax break to millionaires and billionaires.”

—–

POLS UPDATE: Denver7’s Blair Miller reports:

U.S. Senator Cory Gardner voted Tuesday in favor of the motion to proceed to a Senate floor debate on Republicans’ efforts to repeal, and possibly replace, the Affordable Care Act—despite not knowing what bill the Senate might take up to debate first.

The final vote came down to Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who came back to the Senate just days after being diagnosed with brain cancer to cast a vote…

McCain spoke after the successful vote, saying he proud of his Senate tenure, but also saying that he wouldn’t vote for a bill as they stand today, that procedures and deliberations in the Senate weren’t currently at their best, and that the Senate wasn’t “producing the best for the American people.”

Here’s Sen Cory Gardner’s statement:

“Under Obamacare, Coloradans have had to pay for double digit premium increases year after year and the 27 percent average increase for premiums on the individual market next year is only more of the same. While 500,000 Coloradans have had their plans cancelled, 145,000 Coloradans were forced to pay a penalty under Obamacare instead of purchasing insurance because their options have become so limited and unaffordable. In every healthcare meeting with Coloradans, we discuss the problems of Obamacare and how the status quo is simply unacceptable.

“I voted to allow debate today because we can no longer subject Coloradans to a failing healthcare system without working toward solutions, and today’s vote will allow that debate to continue. We can now offer amendments in an open setting to fix our nation’s healthcare system and bring relief to the American people.”

Technically, the motion approved today was to proceed with debate on the legislation passed by the House in early May. That legislation, as the Congressional Budget Office revealed after the bill was passed, would reduce the number of insured Americans by some 23 million versus current law. That estimate remains the baseline until amendments are offered later in the debate–leading toward either passage in the event some kind of deal can be crafted between opposing Republican factions, or another failure. At this point, the former remains the most likely outcome, which would make this vote to proceed on the House’s bill the proverbial high water mark.

What Coloradans know now is that Gardner, whatever he says, will not be our salvation.

Original post follows.

—–

After the U.S. Senate advanced the latest attempt to repeal the landmark 2010 Affordable Care Act, which has reduced the rate of uninsured people in Colorado to historic lows and provided essential health benefits to millions of Americans, ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest online progressive advocacy organization, called on Gardner to apologize to the people of Colorado for once again putting politics over our best interests.

“Today, Republicans in Washington have taken the first step to hurt millions of their fellow Americans in the name of tax breaks for the wealthy,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Ian Silverii. “The bill Sen. Cory Gardner voted for today will undo the gains our state has made in covering the uninsured, and endanger health services in rural communities like the small town Gardner hails from. Cory Gardner promised to protect Medicaid patients, but today he broke that promise. Gardner promised to deliver a replacement for Obamacare that was better, but what he voted for today would hurt millions of Americans and thousands of Coloradans—the very same people the Affordable Care Act has helped.”

“The voters of Colorado do not support the repeal of Obamacare,” said Silverii. “Poll after poll shows that the Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever, even as Republicans continue attempting to destroy it. Gardner’s own approval rating has plunged below 30%, driven by dissatisfaction on both sides with his inability to make good on his promises. Gardner’s false claims against the Affordable Care Act have given way to the reality of what repeal would mean for his constituents. No matter what happens next, Gardner has done irreparable damage to his political career. The voters of Colorado will not forget Cory Gardner’s betrayal today.”

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35 thoughts on “Gardner Breaks Promises to Colorado as Health Care Repeal Advances”

  1. Cory Gardner's statement:

    Gardner Votes to Allow Debate on Fixing our Broken Healthcare System

    Washington, D.C. – Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) today released the below statement after voting for the motion to proceed to open debate on the Senate floor to find a way to fix our broken healthcare system. Today’s vote was not on a final measure to repeal Obamacare, but to continue to debate and make changes to legislation to repeal Obamacare.

    “Under Obamacare, Coloradans have had to pay for double digit premium increases year after year and the 27 percent average increase for premiums on the individual market next year is only more of the same. While 500,000 Coloradans have had their plans cancelled, 145,000 Coloradans were forced to pay a penalty under Obamacare instead of purchasing insurance because their options have become so limited and unaffordable. In every healthcare meeting with Coloradans, we discuss the problems of Obamacare and how the status quo is simply unacceptable.

    “I voted to allow debate today because we can no longer subject Coloradans to a failing healthcare system without working toward solutions, and today’s vote will allow that debate to continue. We can now offer amendments in an open setting to fix our nation’s healthcare system and bring relief to the American people.”

    What is a Motion to Proceed?

    A motion to proceed is a vote to allow debate to begin on a specific piece of legislation. For legislation to pass the Senate it still requires final passage.

    =========================================================

    Now we get to see which versions of the Republican's approach to DonTcare Cory will support. We know he's against

      — plans being cancelled

      — unaffordable plans. He seems to resent health care policies going up 27% — but doesn't mention that about 20% is due to the uncertainty brought about by Republican efforts.

      — limited options.

    So naturally, he will support Republican plans that will do how many of these?

    1. Gardner was never undecided. Not for a minute. He's a toady through and through.

      We have to do to them what they did to us in 2010. Defeat is the only thing they understand.

      2. He was NEVER undecided which makes his 'I'm still on the fence' comments to the press as craven a display of political cowardice as we've seen around these parts in quite a while.  At least now he can't ever again pretend he is a moderate without being laughed at in his face.  Cory the Coward ads are ready to be written.  What a punk.

      2. Moldy.  Maybe you can enlighten us as to how repealing Obamacare will HELP Americans.  Please. Prove that you have intelligence and that you're not as stupid as you come off as being. 

        1. By taking away competition and forcing people to buy coverage they don't need (maternity care for men?), Obamacare jacked up the price of health care for everyone. Some poor people don't see the increase because they are subsidized, but for successful middle class Americans, Obamacare is punishment. Class warfare.

          America is about liberty, not a socialist welfare state that "takes care of you." Real Americans take care of ourselves and don't ask for handouts. We'll help people who are truly in need, but we don't believe in a welfare state.

          That's why I say, and Trump and others, JUST REPEAL THE DAMN THING. The free market takes care of health care and charity helps those who can't pay. That's how America works.

          2. Moddy, that is incredibly wrong….listen to me you half-wit….

            There is NO SUCH THING as a "Free Market". Certainly not in the health care business. It is completely dominated and controlled by the giant mega-corporations who have rules and regulations crafted that help them fleece the public. The ACA started to fix that, but you and your asshole friends have been trying to keep us from having health care unless we are well off. You are a blind fool, Moddy. It must be scary to be so stupid.

            P.S.    I will retract a comment and admit there IS, in fact, a free market….yard sales. Only that.

             

          3. You give your usual platitudes.  You are fine with poor people dying.  You ignore that insurance rattes have gone up prior to Obamacare.  You ignore the many Healthcare related Bankruptcies that happened before Obamacare.   What do you tell people that go back to getting denied or kicked off their insurance coverage due to preexisting conditions?  

             

            1. The analogy that I thought about regarding their Holy Grail that rates have gone up during the existence of the Affordable Care Act and act as if their sabotage had nothing to do with it is akin to a car salesman who wants to sell you a junk car so he pours sand in the gas tank of your new Dodge Hemi and then can't shut up about how poorly your truck runs.  It is dumb shits like Moldy to get all pissed off about how poorly their truck runs and instead of arresting the car salesman for destroying their car, they sell off their new truck at a steep loss and buy the slick salesmans (Cory) piece of shit thinking they are getting a good deal.  This is what passes for intelligent thought among Republicans.  In pioneer days, they bought the snake oil thinking it would heal their broken backs.  The Moldy's of the Republican Party really are that fucking stupid of human beings.

                1. And without insurance markets, it will be $12 again.

                  Hand me some more of that snake oil Martha.  I'm sure it is going to cure me of whatever ails me and it was just bad luck that Jediah went blind drinking it.

  3. McCain–or any one of the other 48 Republicans who mewl about comity and regular order–could have stopped this charade in its tracks. The Senate could have been holding committee hearings, receiving advice and evidence from experts, and rationally considering the trade-offs of various legislative approaches to health care. But the bag of pukes don't really want them.

    Senator McCain, you are, in fact, not a hero. You're just another grifter. Please just go the fuck away.

    1. Old Time Dem lives up to his name (Old Time = nothing new). Again, the vote today was simply to open debate. What you're asking for should come up during debate. McCain already has said he won't support the House bill. How Gardner speaks during debate will tell everyone how he thinks on the issue.

      1. Oh great…another brain-dead Republican.

        My comment says that the Senate should have been "holding committee hearings, receiving advice and evidence from experts, and rationally considering the trade-offs of various legislative approaches to health care."

        Since you apparently couldn't follow that, let me explain. If three Republican Senators had made it clear that they would only vote for a bill that was the result of normal legislative processes, the Senate could have proceeded as if it was a deliberative body. But they didn't. And they won't. And if you think that 20 hours of "debate" is a substitute for normal legislative processes, you're even stupider than Cory Gardner.

      2. Yes, what Old Time said. McCain said they should be using regular order. A NO vote would have stopped the sham and would have been a vote for regular order. But McCain voted the opposite of what he said was the proper thing to do. His maverick reputation was always overrated (grading on a curve) and has been evident only in his words and never in his votes for decades.

        1. In McCain's defense, he may not have even been told what he was voting on . . . 

          . . . he was told how to vote, and that was enough. (In that one regard, he's not unlike Corwardly Lyin' Gardner.)

            1. Thanks, that one works. So far, the score seems to be:

              Motion to proceed to debate unknown healthcare plans: yes: 51-50

              Vote on Better Care Reconciliation Act (Trumpcare 3.0) No: 57-43

              Vote on "skinny bill" aka Trumpcare Lite: as soon as it's written, we'll see. This bill would strike down insurance mandates and the medical device tax, but the parliamentarian doesn't like it, and it's unlikely to survive.

    2. Nice of Sen. McCain to take time from his taxpayer-funded cancer treatment to cast his lot with the effort to fuck over Medicaid recipients.

      1. Yep…Don't forget….this is the man who gave us Caribou Barbie….

        This whole Republican sham could be entitled "Profiles in Cowardice"

        Hats off to the 9….

  5. In all seriousness, I have a suggestion for a metaphorical protest that most ideological fundamentalists can relate to: Send a bottle of water to Corey Gardner (and others supporting the repeal of AHCA) ala Pontius Pilate with the words "To wash the blood from your hands." written on it. I know this sounds a bit extreme, but it is what it is.  If you like this idea, please share it in other forums in which yo participate.

  6. For Cory to face the truth of who he is and what he has become would be the end of him…he is too far into the trough to wade out now. 

    He will not see the innate cruelty…the profound dishonesty…the heartless outcome of his actions. He can only see the magnificence of his ascendance to wealth and power. He has risen from nowhere to the top of political power and at the doorstep of great wealth. Cory Gardner has before him the opportunity to be a great man …or a great fool. He seems to have chosen the latter.

    "I'm gonna be a wheel someday, I'm gonna be somebody. I'm gonna be a real gone cat, then I won't want you"

    (Bobby Mitchell and the Toppers,   1957)*

     

    * later covered and made famous by Fats Domino, who was a co-author.

     

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