Civics 101Republicons applauded like they did something, but this is NOT OVER: NEXT STEPS HERE

[UCmeNdc]

OK. Republicons passed their “tax bill” 51-49 and then stood and applauded to create a photo op for FakesNewsChannel to claim that “Republicons Passed Tax Reform”

But they didn’t.

This has as much validity as when they celebrated in the Rose Garden claiming they had “repealed Obamacare” after the House vote.

I repeat. The Tax Reform Bill is NOT a law yet.

It is NOT ready to be signed by DJT yet. (He is so clueless he may not even know this...)

This bill still has TWO very important hurdles to jump.

If we up our resistance game we still have a chance to stop it.

And, if the Blue Team plays our cards right, we can stop this bill AND make the Republicon party look VERY bad in the process.

I wasn’t going to start my Civics 101 series until next month but this night is kind of a big deal so I am launching early and on a topic that I did not plan to address first. But sometimes you just have to go where the breath of the spirit takes you.

Right now a lot of people who don’t know any better are saying: DAMN, the bill passed the House and it passed the Senate and now there is nothing we can do to stop DJT from signing it. All is lost.

This is not true. All is not lost.

The more I think about it, the more persuaded I am that we may get more political mileage out of stopping the bill in the next stage than if we had managed to win or prevent the vote tonight.

We only have a few days but if we stay focused we can stop this bill, and power-slap a few key Republicons at the same time.

Our saving grace is this: The House and Senate passed different versions of the bill. That is not allowed. Before a bill can go to the White House to be signed, the EXACT SAME VERSION must pass the House and the Senate.

Since the House originated this one, and passed their version first, the Senate now has to send their version back to the House who will then call a CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. This is where the differences between the House and Senate versions are theoretically ironed out until there is one bill with language the House and Senate can agree on.

So the version that comes out of Conference Committee must be voted on AGAIN!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/2/1720394/-Civics-101-Republicons-applauded-like-they-did-something-but-this-is-NOT-OVER-NEXT-STEPS-HERE?detail=emaildkbn

[Generic Other]

1. I heard the House plans to back the Senate's version

Won't that mean this version stands?

[UCmeNdc]

2. I am not sure.....

The article makes it sound like they have to vote again.

[Generic Other]

4. Except if the House says they will vote on whatever the Senate comes up with

the vote is just a formality. They do not care.

Next they attack social security and medicare. It is going to be ugly for everyone.

[ramblin_dave]

5. My understanding is that if the House passes the Senate version as-is, then that's it...

no need to re-vote in the Senate.

[COLGATE4]

7. Yep. And that's exactly what they plan to do.

[smirkymonkey]

3. K&R

Thanks for posting this.

[UCmeNdc]

6. If they do have to revote.........

We need to spend the weekend letting red voters and purple voters know: “there are things in the bill that will HURT you and people you care about.”

Know your audience. Some people will respond better to the news of Medicare cuts, others will react to the cuts to rural hospitals. Some will be upset that students can no longer deduct the interest payments on their student loans. Others will wonder why they can no longer deduct the cost of tax preparation.

Most of all tell them--they aren’t getting a tax cut. The bottom tax bracket is going UP. They are getting a Tax increase!

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

8. Very true.

However, if Ryan just has the House vote on the Senate's version, then there is no conference and it goes straight for signature.

But either way there is still at least 1 more vote. But stopping the vote in the house is far more difficult then in the senate.

[rgbecker]

9. Certainly there must be a few GOP deficit Hawks in the House who could be swayed with some emails...

complaining about putting more debt on the backs of the next generation. If you have given up writing your GOP rep before this may be the time to bring up the GOP talking point.

[rgbecker]

10. The healthcare mandate removal is only in the Senate bill.

House will need to approve or remove that. Some reps could be vulnerable on that issue based on recent strong support for ACA signups and public's response to the healthcare vote earlier.

There are a lot of changes to the Senate bill we don't know about and won't for a while as the nerds sort through the 500 pages. The Reps will need to support all as written (In hand writting in the margins) or get Senate to agree to changes.

Should be fun to watch, but better to get some emails out to your rep.