June 7, 2017

Obamacare Repeal Is Right on Track

Erik Mcgregor/Pacific Press via ZUMA

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This is just a placeholder post to make sure everyone is on the same page about the progress of Obamacare repeal. After the House failed to pass Trumpcare 1.0, we all thought it was dead. When Paul Ryan revived it, we figured it was still dead. There was just no way to reconcile the various wings of the GOP. Then, in a sudden rush, with no hearings, no time to read the bill, and no CBO score, Trumpcare 2.0 passed.

Some lefties said: Maybe this is for the best. Let it pass in the House, chew up time in the Senate, and then fail there.

Well, now it’s in the Senate. Until today, it looked doomed. Republican senators all had hangdog expressions. They said it was impossible to reconcile the various wings of the GOP. As late as this morning, pundits were theorizing that Mitch McConnell just wanted a “body”—a bill that would fail, but which would show that at least he tried.

Now, suddenly, after a motivational lunch, everyone is feeling chipper. Maybe they can pass something after all! And they’ll do it with no hearings, no time to read the bill, and no CBO score.

I sure hope everyone is taking this seriously. It could happen. If there’s one thing that can unite the Republican Party, it’s showing up a bunch of smug Democrats. As for all those “moderates” who supposedly will never agree to a bill that takes away insurance from millions, just remember what happened in the House: after voting against Trumpcare 1.0, the moderates negotiated an even worse bill and then went ahead and voted for it. The thinnest reed on the planet is a Republican moderate.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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