Amy Coney Barrett and the GOP Plot to Kill Healthcare for Millions

The coronavirus pandemic is on the upswing yet for the Republican Party and the Trump/Pence regime, the goal is to kill the Affordable Health Care Act, a/k/a, Obamacare, and in the process expose millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions to the mercy of rapacious health insurance companies while leaving millions more without any health care insurance coverage.  The vehicle they hope to use to accomplish this sick goal is Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett who is stridently anti-abortion and also stridently anti- Obamacare.  Personally, I see  Amy Coney Barrett and those like her as a "Christian" version of the Taliban. They strive to force their beliefs on all citizens and their bleating about "religious freedom" translates to a right to inflict their religion on all others, especially their anti-abortion and anti-LGBT rights fixation.  Republicans see her as a way to kill Obamacare and to harm millions of Americans for reasons I have never been able to comprehend.  Without the votes in the U.S. Senate to stop Barrett's confirmation, all Democrats can do is convince voters of what Senate Republicans are about to do to many millions of Americans and hope it will move them to punish Republicans - hopefully at all levels - on election day.  A piece in Politico looks at the Democrat strategy.  Here are excerpts:

Amid the GOP’s unprecedented push to fill a Supreme Court vacancy right before the election with conservative Amy Coney Barrett, the top Democratic leaders agreed: The party's sights would not shift from health care.

From senators on the Judiciary Committee to rank-and-file Democrats to the national debate stages, the relentless focus on health care has only become more intense with an election in three weeks and the high court set to consider a challenge for the Affordable Care Act. When Barrett sits down in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearings this week, expect to hear the acronym “ACA” at least as much as you hear “ACB.”

The stakes couldn’t be higher for Democrats, who are more optimistic than ever of making Schumer majority leader and putting Biden in the White House. Because Republicans are already committed to voting for her and can confirm her unilaterally, most of the drama in the committee surrounds how Democrats handle the nomination.

For Schumer, the task at hand is enormously important. Already the New York Democrat raised eyebrows when he briefly seized the Senate floor and forced a vote on protecting the Affordable Care Act, an unprecedented move for the minority leader. That vote was a key piece of Democrats’ campaign to tie Senate Republicans, Barrett and an Obamacare lawsuit together.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), another Judiciary Committee member, said that he expects Barrett to respond to questions about her viewpoints with calm, measured answers and impenetrable legalese. He views his job as translating it for the public what a vote to confirm Barrett really means.

“A vote for Judge Barrett is a vote for repealing the ACA. And a vote for a conservative activist judge that will revisit, reconsider and repeal long-standing precedent,” Coons said of his message. “Her faith is not an issue here, nor should it be.”

Republicans are eager to see Democrats stumble in their attacks against Barrett, hoping the confirmation becomes a political lifeline that counteracts President Donald Trump’s poor polling and their uphill battle defending their majority. They are doing little to hide their hopes that Democrats question her over her Catholicism or membership in People of Praise, a small Christian network.

But Schumer says Democrats will not personally tear down Barrett after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing became an examination of a sexual assault allegation against him and his personal character. Barrett’s religion and her family have been deemed off limits.

“We’re focused on the issues and the merits. And on the illegitimacy of the process. We are not focusing on the personal characteristics of Amy Coney Barrett. Zero,” Schumer said. “The Republicans are so afraid of the issues of health care and women’s reproductive rights ... they’re trying to create a diversion.”

With no procedural tools to stop Barrett from getting confirmed to the Supreme Court, the only weapon Democrats have is messaging. But Brian Fallon, executive director of the liberal Demand Justice group, says that Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have been “sleepwalking” so far.

“Dianne Feinstein, Chris Coons, Dick Durbin have been going around sulking about how the Republicans have the votes. And they ought to be convincing the country about what a partisan power grab this is,” said Fallon, whose group is spending millions against Barrett’s nomination. “Get passionate.”

Democrats will scrutinize Barrett’s previous writings on Obamacare, including her criticism of Chief Justice John Roberts for ruling to uphold the law. Her views on abortion will also come up. She has described abortion as “always immoral,” but she’s also suggested that Roe v. Wade will endure in some form.

“This nominee poses a clear and present danger to everybody’s health care, that should be uppermost in everyone’s minds, but that’s only the start,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.), who also sits on the Judiciary Committee. “She has a position on abortion.”

Democrats hope their questions create tension between the committee’s conservatives who want the ACA repealed and Roe struck down and those up for reelection who are staying away from such suggestions.

Schumer refused to directly comment on how Senate Republicans’ confirmation of Barrett might affect key Senate races. Ever the optimist, he said that this is a fight like the one to save Obamacare, when Schumer helped convince former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to tank his party’s repeal effort.

“This is our job to push this as hard we can, knowing it’s not an easy fight, knowing that Trump is a vindictive guy and anyone who goes against him has suffered,” Schumer said of Senate Republicans who tangle with the president.

Yet there were always enough senators complaining about Obamacare repeal to conceivably tank the bill. When it comes to Barrett, only two of 53 GOP senators oppose her confirmation before the election. Getting two more looks borderline impossible.