In a 51 to 49 vote, the Senate passed their version of the horrific Reconciliation Bill (aka the Big Ugly Bill or, in Indivisible messaging circles, the Murder Bill). which has been scheduled for the final vote tomorrow. We need to step up the calls to stop this madness that will add $3.3 TRILLION to the national debt AND destroy the healthcare of so many Americans. Indivisible National put out a call for all of us to step up our calls IMMEDIATELY.

Even worse, Indivisible National called out Ron Johnson’s proposed amendment FURTHER ATTACKING MEDICAID!  For Republican senators, specifically add we want them to oppose Ron Johnson’s proposed amendment with wording such as this:

• “I am furious that Republicans are adding even more Medicaid cuts to this budget. You are already going to cost 16 million people their health insurance, and you want to hurt even more of us to pay for billionaire tax cuts? Along with voting no on final passage, you need to vote no on Senator Johnson’s amendment rolling back federal cost-sharing for new Medicaid enrollees under the ACA. Enough!”

Healthcare is a vital issue for this nation. Accordingly, both WEAU, TV 13 and WQOW, TV 18 covered the CVI protests last week which did evoke a response from Derrick Van Orden disavowing that he voted for Medicaid cuts. Alex Lawson of Social Security Works said, “Rep. Van Orden and the Republicans’ plan is to lie about their deeply unpopular Medicaid cuts and to pretend they don’t exist. The bill includes the largest cut to Medicaid in the history of the program. The Congressional Budget Office has found that 16 million Americans will lose their health care from this disastrous bill, all so Van Orden can give trillions in tax handouts to billionaires.”

Many Republicans know their chance for re-election may be at risk as the real impact of this vote becomes clearer in time. Last week, Senator John Thune was circulating information about how bad the bill would be for his state. Today, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis announced he will not seek re-election after Trump threatened him with a primary opponent if he votes against the bill. The Republicans know this bill is devastating for their constituents and catastrophic for the economy. It is urgent that we call now.