Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told senators on Tuesday that he would delay the vote on Trumpcare until after the July 4 recess, a move viewed by many as a testament to the strength of the bill's critics and the tenacity of its opponents.
"McConnell doesn't have the votes. He thinks he can get them. Use this recess to make sure he doesn't get them. Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt."
--Corey RobinFollowing the release of the Congressional Budget Office analysis--which projected the Senate bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured--Republican senators began to question whether they should rush the legislation to the floor for a vote, and some announced they would be unable to support the bill at all.
The delay was widely seen as a stunning political defeat for McConnell and a rebuke to a bill that numerous lawmakers, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, had referred to as a piece of "garbage" which belonged in the trash.
Resistance groups and Democratic lawmakers attempted to press their advantage on Monday by launching action plans and holding a sit-in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
"Left-wing activists believe that if they can draw enough public attention and scrutiny to the bill...they can cow Republicans into not passing it," Vox's Jeff Stein reported. "It only takes three Senate Republican defections for the bill to be defeated, and so far at least five have said they oppose it in its current form."
While acknowledging that McConnell's decision to delay the vote is a significant victory for the Trumpcare opposition, applause was qualified with the refrain: "it's not over."
"This does not mean stop," the progressive group 5 Calls wrote in response to McConnell's announcement. "It means KEEP GOING!!! Trumpcare is not dead yet."
Others similarly urged caution and persistence.
"McConnell doesn't have the votes. He thinks he can get them," wrote political theorist and author Corey Robin. "Use this recess to make sure he doesn't get them. Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt."
In a statement, CREDO Action political director Murshed Zaheed called the delayed vote "a key win in a long fight," but called for resistance to continue until Trumpcare is entirely off the table.
"CREDO will escalate pressure on Republican senators during the recess and until Trumpcare is dead," Zaheed concluded. "Through grassroots campaigning and multi-channel digital campaigns, we'll make it clear to senators that stealing Americans' health care to provide tax cuts for the rich is a political liability they can't afford."
