“All art has a political stance whether it’s on the surface or boiling underneath.” -Gregg Chadwick, Santa Monica- … https://t.co/Px2mJZJ4Kl pic.twitter.com/nSCiBi0Qr2— Clark Hulings Fund (@clarkhulingsorg) July 4, 2017
Friday, July 07, 2017
Paint your Worlds
Thursday, July 06, 2017
Wednesday, July 05, 2017
Looking at Diebenkorn: First Thoughts on Art, Memories, the Marine Corps, and Freedom on July 4th
by Gregg Chadwick
Outside my window, fireworks are streaking across the evening sky. A group of young adults are gathered down below. Lightly boisterous after a day in the sun, checking their phones for the next event. "Don't get too close", they say as they light a small firework in the park across the street. The group runs. The miniature explosive was a dud. Smiles and backslaps as they walk down the street. Further in the distance a dull thump echoes down the way as a firework lifts off - exploding at its apogee. In the rolling Santa Monica fog, the explosion is now a muted glow on the horizon.
When I was a kid, my family would drive to the local July 4th events. I remember when I was in High School watching the bicentennial festivities in 1976 from the Marine Corps headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. I gazed across the Potomac towards Washington DC at the French designed fireworks program and saw art in the skies. Carter would be elected later that year and I felt a sense of hope in the future. My dad, a veteran of the Korean War and the Vietnam War never flinched at the explosions. But, years earlier when I played as a small kid with my toy soldiers strewn across the family room floor, I would often whistle an incoming shell sound that was inevitably followed with a "Knock it off!" barked from my Dad. It seemed like a game to me but it wasn't - I learned that many vets find memories of distress in the crackle of explosions and I now try to honor that.
I was only five in 1965 and the small gap in time between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War defined my early childhood. My physical playground was often found in the hills of the Marine Base in Southern California we called home. Camp Pendleton sprawled across the maps my parents carried in their Buick. Pendleton still acts as a physical barrier between the southward sprawl of Los Angeles as it bleeds into its cousin Orange County and the northward creep of San Diego.
As Marine Corps dependents, military brats, we had almost free run of the base in Camp Pendleton. Dressed in cast off, or surreptitiously borrowed, uniforms of khaki or forest green military duds accented by denim and Converse shoes, my older brother and I with a crew of neighborhood kids played soldier in our fathers’ training ground. On weekends, when our neighbors gathered outside to barbecue freshly hunted venison, we would scamper to Combat Town.
This urban battle training ground on Camp Pendleton was first constructed during the 1950’s as a simulated Korean town smacked down in the California chaparral. As if on a set from the TV show Combat, we acted out the parts of valiant sergeants and dutiful privates in this dystopian war ground. Blown out walls reeked of cordite and sweat. The older kids would leap from open second story windows, writhing from imagined wounds. Younger ones like me would gather the spent shells and dull green ammo boxes that littered Combat Town. I would store my plundered gear in the garage and then find the others finishing off the last bits of meat from the barbecue or sipping on coffee in the dry California night around Chosin Circle. On base, the Marine Corps would often name streets for battle sites from their history. Chosin Circle, where our house was located, was named for one of the bloodiest battles of the Korean War. I grew up with stories of the vaunted 1st Marine Division surrounded by ten Chinese divisions. Running low on ammunition, the Marines radioed to headquarters for resupply using the code word for mortar shells. The code word was Tootsie Rolls and that’s what they got parachuted to them in the freezing Korean Winter. Fueled on by not much more than grit and the airlifted candy, the Marines battled their way out of the trap. My dad liked to quote 1st Marine Division General Oliver Prince Smith who, when asked if his company was retreating, barked back: "Retreat? Hell, we are attacking in another direction."
More than memories of the Corps hung around our house, hints of my future passions were also hidden on Chosin Circle. Ours was a house of secrets. Once when probing the deep recesses of our garage, I found combat camouflage paint sticks in a green Marine Corps issue locker. Stacked nearby, I also found oil paint by number kits that my brother and dad liked to play with. I drew jungle green and black stripes across my hand with the camo gear and sniffed the sweet vegetable smell of linseed oil in the small do it yourself tins of paint by number paint. Theater and art gave me their secrets that day and I held tight to them.
On this Fourth of July in 2017, I think of Santa Monica's best known artist - Richard Diebenkorn. Diebenkorn was/is a Marine. "Semper Fi!", I say. Diebenkorn's artwork July created in 1957 is for me a quintessential American painting. LIFE magazine in their December 1, 1961 issue described the piece as a depiction of a silent fellow occupying a patriotic bench in a blaze of colors, creating a setting of "hot fields and sky." Tonight, we are a long way from the hope found in the early 1960's. That was an era of Camelot in the Oval Office. Yet, there is a hint of melancholy found in the shadows in Diebenkorn's painting. I am reminded of the paintings of Edward Hopper that Diebenkorn admired as a young artist. Olivia Laing in The Guardian writes," Like Hopper, Diebenkorn was interested in evoking mood and emotion. Both men strongly felt the difficulty of painting, the troublesome and sometimes agonising passage from vision to completion. This is what Hopper described as 'decay': the inevitable, distressing gap between the luminous idea and its resolution on the canvas." Diebenkorn's painting July was carried from the exhibition at the 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture (Now the Carnegie International) and photographed by Ben Spiegel for the article Art Spectacle in Pittsburgh published in LIFE Magazine in December 1961. Even now as an observer 50+ years later, I fear for the painting. A gust of wind could blow the artwork into the pond. And furthermore, who in that Mad Men world decided that contemporary art was just a prop?
Happy Fourth of July!
 | ||
Richard Diebenkorn July 58.5" x 53.75" oil on canvas 1957 Private Collection |
When I was a kid, my family would drive to the local July 4th events. I remember when I was in High School watching the bicentennial festivities in 1976 from the Marine Corps headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. I gazed across the Potomac towards Washington DC at the French designed fireworks program and saw art in the skies. Carter would be elected later that year and I felt a sense of hope in the future. My dad, a veteran of the Korean War and the Vietnam War never flinched at the explosions. But, years earlier when I played as a small kid with my toy soldiers strewn across the family room floor, I would often whistle an incoming shell sound that was inevitably followed with a "Knock it off!" barked from my Dad. It seemed like a game to me but it wasn't - I learned that many vets find memories of distress in the crackle of explosions and I now try to honor that.
I was only five in 1965 and the small gap in time between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War defined my early childhood. My physical playground was often found in the hills of the Marine Base in Southern California we called home. Camp Pendleton sprawled across the maps my parents carried in their Buick. Pendleton still acts as a physical barrier between the southward sprawl of Los Angeles as it bleeds into its cousin Orange County and the northward creep of San Diego.
As Marine Corps dependents, military brats, we had almost free run of the base in Camp Pendleton. Dressed in cast off, or surreptitiously borrowed, uniforms of khaki or forest green military duds accented by denim and Converse shoes, my older brother and I with a crew of neighborhood kids played soldier in our fathers’ training ground. On weekends, when our neighbors gathered outside to barbecue freshly hunted venison, we would scamper to Combat Town.
This urban battle training ground on Camp Pendleton was first constructed during the 1950’s as a simulated Korean town smacked down in the California chaparral. As if on a set from the TV show Combat, we acted out the parts of valiant sergeants and dutiful privates in this dystopian war ground. Blown out walls reeked of cordite and sweat. The older kids would leap from open second story windows, writhing from imagined wounds. Younger ones like me would gather the spent shells and dull green ammo boxes that littered Combat Town. I would store my plundered gear in the garage and then find the others finishing off the last bits of meat from the barbecue or sipping on coffee in the dry California night around Chosin Circle. On base, the Marine Corps would often name streets for battle sites from their history. Chosin Circle, where our house was located, was named for one of the bloodiest battles of the Korean War. I grew up with stories of the vaunted 1st Marine Division surrounded by ten Chinese divisions. Running low on ammunition, the Marines radioed to headquarters for resupply using the code word for mortar shells. The code word was Tootsie Rolls and that’s what they got parachuted to them in the freezing Korean Winter. Fueled on by not much more than grit and the airlifted candy, the Marines battled their way out of the trap. My dad liked to quote 1st Marine Division General Oliver Prince Smith who, when asked if his company was retreating, barked back: "Retreat? Hell, we are attacking in another direction."
More than memories of the Corps hung around our house, hints of my future passions were also hidden on Chosin Circle. Ours was a house of secrets. Once when probing the deep recesses of our garage, I found combat camouflage paint sticks in a green Marine Corps issue locker. Stacked nearby, I also found oil paint by number kits that my brother and dad liked to play with. I drew jungle green and black stripes across my hand with the camo gear and sniffed the sweet vegetable smell of linseed oil in the small do it yourself tins of paint by number paint. Theater and art gave me their secrets that day and I held tight to them.
 |
| The Beatles travel to Shea Stadium via helicopter 1965 |
There was music too. The younger kids in our neighborhood often sang in their childhood falsettos spirited renditions of the Beatles’ “I want to hold your hand.” After we moved back to Jersey and my dad was on base in Da Nang, The Beatles played Shea Stadium in August 1965. They flew from Manhattan on a helicopter skimming above the city to the roof of the World's Fair building in Queens. My dad in Vietnam was on helicopters too. But in his photos, there was always a gunner leaning against his weapon and scanning the horizon for threats out of an open door.
Commissioned a second
lieutenant in June 1951, my dad was an infantry platoon commander in combat in
Korea and, later, a reconnaissance platoon commander. After the Korean War, he
and my mom were stationed at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After
Paris, he returned to his alma mater Columbia, where he earned a law degree and
then a master of laws degree at my future alma mater NYU. Following a brief
stint in private practice outside of the military when my brother and I were
born, my dad returned to the Corps just in time for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
His unit was on full alert and geared up and would have been part of the first
US forces to invade Cuba if the crisis had not passed. And then there was
Vietnam. My dad - Major Chadwick- was a 3rd Marine Division lawyer. After my family left the base for New Jersey and my dad joined the 3rd Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) under the command of Major General Lewis W. Walt in Da Nang, Vietnam, Combat Town was transformed into a mock Vietnamese village. Reconnaissance
and secrets are in his blood. And maybe I carried secrets too?
On this Fourth of July in 2017, I think of Santa Monica's best known artist - Richard Diebenkorn. Diebenkorn was/is a Marine. "Semper Fi!", I say. Diebenkorn's artwork July created in 1957 is for me a quintessential American painting. LIFE magazine in their December 1, 1961 issue described the piece as a depiction of a silent fellow occupying a patriotic bench in a blaze of colors, creating a setting of "hot fields and sky." Tonight, we are a long way from the hope found in the early 1960's. That was an era of Camelot in the Oval Office. Yet, there is a hint of melancholy found in the shadows in Diebenkorn's painting. I am reminded of the paintings of Edward Hopper that Diebenkorn admired as a young artist. Olivia Laing in The Guardian writes," Like Hopper, Diebenkorn was interested in evoking mood and emotion. Both men strongly felt the difficulty of painting, the troublesome and sometimes agonising passage from vision to completion. This is what Hopper described as 'decay': the inevitable, distressing gap between the luminous idea and its resolution on the canvas." Diebenkorn's painting July was carried from the exhibition at the 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture (Now the Carnegie International) and photographed by Ben Spiegel for the article Art Spectacle in Pittsburgh published in LIFE Magazine in December 1961. Even now as an observer 50+ years later, I fear for the painting. A gust of wind could blow the artwork into the pond. And furthermore, who in that Mad Men world decided that contemporary art was just a prop?
 | ||
Caption from the December 1, 1961 issue of LIFE Magazine: "A trio of bench sitters takes the sun beside a lily pond in Schenley Park. The silent fellow on the left occupies a patriotic bench devised by California Artist Richard Diebenkorn, who, with a blaze of colors, created a setting of hot fields and sky. He entitled the picture July." Photo by Ben Spiegel from the article Art Spectacle in Pittsburgh.  Catalog from the 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture (Now the Carnegie International)
Fast forward to 2017 - Trump said he was pulling out of the 2015 Paris Climate Change/Environmental Accord, and that his administration would begin renegotiating to find a deal that was more “fair” to the American people. "I was elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh,” Trump said , “not Paris.”
Soon after Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto hit back at Trump: 'We Will Follow the Guidelines of the Paris Agreement' |
As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future. https://t.co/3znXGTcd8C— bill peduto (@billpeduto) June 1, 2017
Real patriotism requires sharing the burdens and sacrifices of keeping America going. It's about coming together for the common good.— Robert Reich (@RBReich) July 4, 2017
Happy Fourth of July!
Note: This is my first draft on Art, Memories and the Marine Corps which I posted on July 4 2017 - the completed piece can be found here- https://greggchadwick.blogspot.com/2017/07/looking-at-diebenkorn-thoughts-on-art_7.htmlThis is how many fireworks occur over Los Angeles on #July4th pic.twitter.com/oLM6OXTS5J— How Things Work (@ThingsWork) July 5, 2017
Monday, July 03, 2017
Sunday, July 02, 2017
25th Amendment Now
Dear @realDonaldTrump - We the People consider your childish video post to be a letter of resignation. #25thAmendmentNow— Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) July 2, 2017
Saturday, July 01, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
My Congressional Representative Ted Lieu in CA 33 Always Hits It Out of the Park!
This is essentially what Mao Zedong said in China when he attacked elites & started the cultural revolution. How did that work out? https://t.co/ucyhuExXg3— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 30, 2017
Some of us boycotted the relatively small inauguration of @realDonaldTrump. Just reminding everyone that we were right. https://t.co/qPRP3k9qlp— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 30, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Thank You Michael Bond! RIP
Thank you, Michael Bond. #PaddingtonBear pic.twitter.com/wDVOoReolF— Flavia Fazenda (@FlaviaFazenda) June 28, 2017
 |
| Michael Bond at home in 2014. He said of Paddington Bear: ‘He’s never put down or deflated. He has the naivety of a child and the sophistication of an adult.’ Photograph Courtesy: Geoff Pugh/Rex/Shutterstock |
Much more on Michael Bond and Paddington in The Guardian.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Primum Non Nocere - First Do No Harm
by Gregg Chadwick
As the husband of a cancer survivor I ask those who support Trumpcare- "How can you help pass legislation that you know will kill people? Where is your compassion? Where is your humanity?"
Yesterday, the American Medical Association released a letter expressing fierce opposition to the GOP Senate's current proposed healthcare legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act passed during President Obama's first term. The AMA writes,"Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or “first, do no harm.” The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels."
Written in a series of secret closed meetings, the GOP cabal's Better Care Reconciliation Act, or more accurately Trumpcare, is worse than imagined. According to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimations the bill will strip millions of Americans of their health insurance - increasing the number of people without health insurance by 22 million by 2026. It would also eliminate the Essential Benefits rule which dictates a minimum standard of health coverage. It destroys Medicaid, it increases health costs for the middle-class families, it cuts coverage for pre-existing conditions, it eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood. Who loses in this scenario? Pretty much everyone in the United States. The negative effects of this bill will hit millions of hard-working Americans. Which Americans are being responsibly represented by this draconian action? The bill creates a false equivalence between affording care and deserving care. Who wins? The only winners are the extremely rich, who will gain a collective $800 billion in tax cuts. This is insane. And morally indefensible!
Brian Beutler in the New Republic interviewed former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear who "argued that there is a contradiction between the Republican Party’s claim to represent religious Christians and their health policy agenda." Beshear said:
Below is a video of Geoff Ginter, a Pine Beach, New Jersey resident whose wife survived cancer, speaking to New Jersey Congressional Representative Tom MacArthur. Ginter says to MacArthur because of his support for Trumpcare that -“You are the reason I stay up at night. You are the reason I can’t sleep. What happens if I lose my job?”
Soumya Karlamangla in the Los Angeles Times reports that,"The Affordable Care Act had a huge impact in California. The percentage of uninsured in the state dropped from 17% before the law went into effect to 7% last year, the lowest rate ever, according to data released this year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control." Noam N. Levey in the Los Angeles Times writes,"The coverage losses in the Senate bill would completely reverse historic gains in recent years under Obamacare. Over the last four years, the share of people without coverage in the U.S. has been cut in half, dropping to the lowest levels ever recorded, data show."
This is a raw moment for so many of us who have pre-existing conditions or who have children or family members who would be directly harmed by Trumpcare. My wife is a cancer survivor whose family is from Wisconsin, where over 400,000 stand to lose coverage if Trumpcare passes. Make no mistake - this is real, and this is scary. But we also know that we’ve succeeded for months because groups across the country have been fighting back on their home turf.
As the husband of a cancer survivor I applaud Ginter and his opposition to the GOP bill and I ask those who support Trumpcare- "How can you help pass legislation that you know will kill people? Where is your compassion? Where is your humanity?"
What happens next?
This is atrocious. So let’s fight it.
As Indivisible writes,"We are under no illusions that victory is assured here, but victory is possible. Every member of Congress voting on this bill will eventually have to get your vote to be reelected. That’s the source of your constituent power. That’s what makes them responsive to pressure. Remember in March when Paul Ryan embarrassingly called off his first TrumpCare vote? That happened because of public pressure. That happened because of you." The 2018 elections are not far off.
Several GOP senators, including Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada, and (just this afternoon after McConnell delayed the bill) Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia have already made it known that they will not support the bill in its present form. Given how little media coverage the GOP Trumpcare bill received prior to its unveiling, this is very encouraging.
Remember - health care is a winnable fight.
BREAKING - Facing a rebellion within their own ranks, Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday postponed a vote until after the July Fourth recess.
WED June 28, 2017 UPDATE: "Separate surveys from NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist, USA Today/Suffolk University and Quinnipiac University — all released on Wednesday — show fewer than one-in-five voters back the GOP push to repeal and replace Obamacare. They were all conducted prior to McConnell’s decision to pull the bill on Tuesday — but it’s a jaw-dropping lack of support for major legislation" via Politico
We’re not going down. Let’s stand together. Let’s win this.
Have you called your senator today?
Use the sample script below created by Indivisible for calls to your Senator’s office.
SAMPLE CALL DIALOGUE
CALLER: Hi! My name is [name] and I’m calling from [part of state]. Is Senator ___ committed to giving the public a meaningful chance to read and understand the final Trumpcare bill before voting on it?
STAFFER: Yes! The Senator is very pleased that Leader McConnell buckled to his demands to give the public a chance to read the bill. It was posted on Thursday! Here, let me give you the link so you can read it.
CALLER: Is this the final version of the bill? Or will it be amended before there is a final vote?
STAFFER: There will be an open amendment process before the final vote.
CALLER: I won’t fall for this. Senator McConnell can offer a completely different bill as “an amendment in the nature of a substitute” at the very end of a vote-a-rama. That means the bill that’s been released is a complete charade.
STAFFER: Well, I don’t know about that. What I can say is that the Senator is committed to transparency, but he does not control what bills come for a vote when.
CALLER: Yes, he does. He can and should refuse to vote for any bill released at the very last minute. Why haven’t there been hearings on this bill that affects 1/6 of our economy? In 2009 and 2010, there were hundreds of hours of hearings. There were town halls. There were committee mark ups. And there were even dozens of substantive Republican amendments included in the final bill. Will Senator ___ commit to me that he won’t let this bill come to a vote until there’s been a hearing on it?
STAFFER: I don’t know. I’ll pass along your thoughts to the Senator.
CALLER: Thank you. Please take down my contact information so you can let me know what the Senator says after you let him know my thoughts. I expect the Senator to make sure there is at least one hearing on this bill before it is voted on.
STAFFER: Ok, I will.
CALLER: Can you repeat my contact information back to me? I just want to make sure you recorded it correctly. Thank you.
As the husband of a cancer survivor I ask those who support Trumpcare- "How can you help pass legislation that you know will kill people? Where is your compassion? Where is your humanity?"
Yesterday, the American Medical Association released a letter expressing fierce opposition to the GOP Senate's current proposed healthcare legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act passed during President Obama's first term. The AMA writes,"Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or “first, do no harm.” The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels."
Written in a series of secret closed meetings, the GOP cabal's Better Care Reconciliation Act, or more accurately Trumpcare, is worse than imagined. According to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimations the bill will strip millions of Americans of their health insurance - increasing the number of people without health insurance by 22 million by 2026. It would also eliminate the Essential Benefits rule which dictates a minimum standard of health coverage. It destroys Medicaid, it increases health costs for the middle-class families, it cuts coverage for pre-existing conditions, it eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood. Who loses in this scenario? Pretty much everyone in the United States. The negative effects of this bill will hit millions of hard-working Americans. Which Americans are being responsibly represented by this draconian action? The bill creates a false equivalence between affording care and deserving care. Who wins? The only winners are the extremely rich, who will gain a collective $800 billion in tax cuts. This is insane. And morally indefensible!
Brian Beutler in the New Republic interviewed former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear who "argued that there is a contradiction between the Republican Party’s claim to represent religious Christians and their health policy agenda." Beshear said:
"Look, I’m the son of a baptist preacher. I grew up going to church every time the doors opened. But part of that upbringing was, you know, leaving this place a little better off than the way you found it, and living the Golden Rule, as opposed to just quoting it during political campaigns. And man, oh man, how can these folks, you know, call themselves Christian or godly or anything else like they do all the time and then take this kind of attitude and intentionally—intentionally—want to pass stuff that will destroy people’s lives. It’s amazing to me that they can get up and look themselves in the mirror in the morning and not be so ashamed that they have to just go back to bed."
 |
Gregg Chadwick - Nursing Study: Post Op Recovery 24"x18" oil on linen 2012 Collection of Theresa Brown |
Below is a video of Geoff Ginter, a Pine Beach, New Jersey resident whose wife survived cancer, speaking to New Jersey Congressional Representative Tom MacArthur. Ginter says to MacArthur because of his support for Trumpcare that -“You are the reason I stay up at night. You are the reason I can’t sleep. What happens if I lose my job?”
Soumya Karlamangla in the Los Angeles Times reports that,"The Affordable Care Act had a huge impact in California. The percentage of uninsured in the state dropped from 17% before the law went into effect to 7% last year, the lowest rate ever, according to data released this year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control." Noam N. Levey in the Los Angeles Times writes,"The coverage losses in the Senate bill would completely reverse historic gains in recent years under Obamacare. Over the last four years, the share of people without coverage in the U.S. has been cut in half, dropping to the lowest levels ever recorded, data show."
This is a raw moment for so many of us who have pre-existing conditions or who have children or family members who would be directly harmed by Trumpcare. My wife is a cancer survivor whose family is from Wisconsin, where over 400,000 stand to lose coverage if Trumpcare passes. Make no mistake - this is real, and this is scary. But we also know that we’ve succeeded for months because groups across the country have been fighting back on their home turf.
As the husband of a cancer survivor I applaud Ginter and his opposition to the GOP bill and I ask those who support Trumpcare- "How can you help pass legislation that you know will kill people? Where is your compassion? Where is your humanity?"
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 27, 2017
What happens next?
HOW THE TRUMPCARE FIGHT MAY PLAY OUT
There are still several steps between now and passage of TrumpCare. Here’s how the former congressional staff at Indivisible Team think the fight will unfurl:
- BREAKING - Facing a rebellion within their own ranks, Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday postponed a vote until after the July Fourth recess. After the July 4th recess, the GOP will start debate on “the bill,” which is just a draft bill intended to make it look like they’re being transparent but in reality is a trick to hide just how awful their finished product will be.
- Over the next couple days, Senators will submit amendments, most of which will fail and none of which would make this bill redeemable.
- The Senate will plan to vote on the legislation, but first they will vote on all submitted amendments (known as “vote-a-rama”).
- At the last possible minute, Senate Republicans will replace the entire bill they just got finished “debating” with an alternative TrumpCare bill secretly crafted behind closed doors.
- There will be a final vote in the Senate.
- As soon as that same day, the House may then pass the legislation and send it to Trump to sign. This could take longer, but this is the worst case scenario and quite possible.
Throughout this process there will be precisely zero public hearings in the Senate. Make no mistake, this is a historically partisan, secretive, and undemocratic process for one of the most consequential pieces of legislation of our generation.
It’s critical that you’re showing up and that you’re calling your Senators every single day. All you need to pressure your Republican Senators, including DAILY scripts and new materials, is on our TrumpCareTen.org website. Need more background materials? We’ve got ‘em for you here:
 |
| Protesters rally against the Senate Republican health care bill outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 28. | Getty |
Several GOP senators, including Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada, and (just this afternoon after McConnell delayed the bill) Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia have already made it known that they will not support the bill in its present form. Given how little media coverage the GOP Trumpcare bill received prior to its unveiling, this is very encouraging.
Remember - health care is a winnable fight.
BREAKING - Facing a rebellion within their own ranks, Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday postponed a vote until after the July Fourth recess.
WED June 28, 2017 UPDATE: "Separate surveys from NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist, USA Today/Suffolk University and Quinnipiac University — all released on Wednesday — show fewer than one-in-five voters back the GOP push to repeal and replace Obamacare. They were all conducted prior to McConnell’s decision to pull the bill on Tuesday — but it’s a jaw-dropping lack of support for major legislation" via Politico
We’re not going down. Let’s stand together. Let’s win this.
Have you called your senator today?
#TuesdayThoughts: Lots of liberal criticism of #Trumpcare. Oh wait, this is from a conservative columnist. https://t.co/vRt8Y5Qxxd— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 27, 2017
Use the sample script below created by Indivisible for calls to your Senator’s office.
SAMPLE CALL DIALOGUE
CALLER: Hi! My name is [name] and I’m calling from [part of state]. Is Senator ___ committed to giving the public a meaningful chance to read and understand the final Trumpcare bill before voting on it?
STAFFER: Yes! The Senator is very pleased that Leader McConnell buckled to his demands to give the public a chance to read the bill. It was posted on Thursday! Here, let me give you the link so you can read it.
CALLER: Is this the final version of the bill? Or will it be amended before there is a final vote?
STAFFER: There will be an open amendment process before the final vote.
CALLER: I won’t fall for this. Senator McConnell can offer a completely different bill as “an amendment in the nature of a substitute” at the very end of a vote-a-rama. That means the bill that’s been released is a complete charade.
STAFFER: Well, I don’t know about that. What I can say is that the Senator is committed to transparency, but he does not control what bills come for a vote when.
CALLER: Yes, he does. He can and should refuse to vote for any bill released at the very last minute. Why haven’t there been hearings on this bill that affects 1/6 of our economy? In 2009 and 2010, there were hundreds of hours of hearings. There were town halls. There were committee mark ups. And there were even dozens of substantive Republican amendments included in the final bill. Will Senator ___ commit to me that he won’t let this bill come to a vote until there’s been a hearing on it?
STAFFER: I don’t know. I’ll pass along your thoughts to the Senator.
CALLER: Thank you. Please take down my contact information so you can let me know what the Senator says after you let him know my thoughts. I expect the Senator to make sure there is at least one hearing on this bill before it is voted on.
STAFFER: Ok, I will.
CALLER: Can you repeat my contact information back to me? I just want to make sure you recorded it correctly. Thank you.
Continue calling senators during the July 4th recess, and tell them to #ProtectOurCare & #SaveMedicaid! Who to call: https://t.co/3zVptATr2k https://t.co/1c5ud7Exfp— Venice Family Clinic (@VeniceFamClinic) June 28, 2017
Reminder - the GOP “health care” bill would take away coverage for millions of Americans to give tax cuts to the 400 wealthiest households.— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 30, 2017
Good news: GOP forced to delay vote on "health care" bill.— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 27, 2017
Bad news: GOP still wants to kick 22M off insurance.
No time for complacency.
Health care has always been about something bigger than politics: it's about the character of our country. https://t.co/UqLO14Hef7— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 22, 2017
.@SpeakerRyan doesn't want a "patient centered" healthcare system, he wants a healthcare investor centered system. #Trumpcare https://t.co/XHTPcapN8W— FogBelter (@FogBelter) June 28, 2017
like kryptonite, it also kills https://t.co/bloUyMbqTC— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 28, 2017
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