Senate tax cut package

Republican senators hit by calls from voters worried about Obamacare repeal bill

By DIAMOND NAGA SIU

Republican senators’ offices say they’re getting a flood of calls from voters worried about the GOP Obamacare repeal bill, potentially further complicating Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s attempt to muscle the legislation through this week.

Chris Gallegos, communications director for Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, who has so far not staked out a hard position on the legislation, said calls from constituents since the bill's release last week have mainly been negative.

“Since last Thursday, the Cochran offices have received approximately 224 constituent calls against and two in favor of discussion draft of the healthcare bill,” Gallegos wrote in an email Monday.

The office of Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who has voiced support for the bill, reported similar call proportions. His communications director, Lindsay Nothern, said the office has also gotten word that there will be an organized protest on Wednesday outside their Boise office to oppose the bill.

“We’ve had several phone calls — there’s still a mix,” Nothern said. “But they probably run stronger against the Republican bill than for it. Most of them want to see changes in the bill.”

He said the majority of calls concerned Medicaid, though Nothern did not specify any numbers when asked.

Jill Gerber, communications manager for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has not yet expressed a clear opinion on the bill, also did not provide statistics, though she said Iowans who have reached out expressed various opinions on the topic.

“Grassley’s office has had an uptick in calls since the Senate discussion draft bill came out last Thursday,” Gerber said. “In general, over the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of contact to the office about health care.”

She said some of the people calling were from out of state.

The strong constituent interest comes as the bill appears to be in a precarious position, with at least four Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Dean Heller of Nevada and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — signaling they could oppose a key procedural vote that is expected to occur Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.

That would put the GOP and President Donald Trump well short of the votes needed to advance the bill, and McConnell has indicated he’s ready to move on to tax reform if this Obamacare repeal push collapses.

Democrats, eager to thwart Republicans, have been highlighting the intense concerns from voters worried about Medicaid cuts, premium spikes and coverage losses.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in an interview Monday with the nonpartisan group Connecticut American Association of Retired Persons that he and his constituents openly oppose the bill.

“When I looked at my phone calls last week, I had received hundreds of calls — I hadn't received a single phone call in favor of it,” Murphy said. “I've never seen a bill this important with no one in favor of it.”

His office did not respond to a request for comment on the exact numbers of constituent responses he received.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) appeared to be the first to publicly report constituent statistics, and a visual she posted on Twitter said that of the 5,569 constituents who had called her office since January about repealing the Affordable Care Act, 5,461 opposed doing away with it.

“Since January, Granite Staters have been contacting my office abt the GOP #ACA repeal,” Shaheen tweeted on June 21, a day before the Senate health care bill was released. “Of >5500 notes, 98% are against it #AmericaSpeaksOut.”

Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Joe Manchin of West Virginia also tweeted statistics about responses from their constituents, but no GOP senators appeared to have done so as of Monday, even after Senate Minority Whip Durbin’s request for statistics.

“I’ve gotten 5,000 letters and more than 2,000 calls opposing Senate’s #Trumpcare just this week,” he tweeted. “@SenateGop what are your numbers?"