Will The Republicans Who Voted For TrumpCare Before Ryan Raised The White Flag, Be Held Accountable? Not If It's Up To The DCCC

Hey, who does the candidate recruiting around here?

As everyone knows by now, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy pulled their TrumpCare proposal off the floor of the House for the second-- and final-- time yesterday. Good riddance to a bill that basically no one liked except Ryan himself and some fellow Ayn Rand devotees. This incredibly unpopular bill-- with it's mighty 17% approval rating-- and which Trump chief consiglieri Steve Bannon says was written by the insurance industry, an industry that has given Paul Ryan $2,031,705 in bribes-- will not force Republicans to go on the record voting for a bill that most voters said would incline them to oppose reelection for their congressmember if he or she supported it. Republicans are relieved-- at least most of them are. Some, like Martha McSally (R-AZ), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Kevin Calvert (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Mimi Walters (R-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Mike Coffman (R-CA), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Steve King (R-IA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Lee Zeldin (R-NY), John Faso (R-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Jim Renacci (R-OH), Lou Barletta (R-PA), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Sean Duffy (R-WI) and David McKinley (R-WV), had already been on record as supporting the bill.

But even easier for Democrats to target are Republicans who did vote for it already. True, it didn't get voted on on the floor, but it did get voted on in the House Budget Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. These were the Republicans who voted for TrumpCare in the Budget Committee:

• Diane Black (TN)
• Todd Rotika (IN)
• Mario Diaz-Balart (FL)
• Tom Cole (OK)
• Tom McClintock (CA)
• Rob Woodall (GA)
• Steve Womack (AR)
• Glenn Grothman (WI)
• Bruce Westerman (AR)
• Jim Renacci (OH)
• Bill Johnson (OH)
• Jason Smith (MO)
• Jason Lewis (MN)
• Jack Bergman (MI)
• John Faso (NY)
• Lloyd Smucker (PA)
• Matt Gaetz (FL)
• Jodey Arrington (TX)
• Drew Ferguson (GA)

Mark Sanford (SC), Dave Brat (VA) and Gary Palmer (AL) joined every Democrat on the committee in voting no. It passed 19-17. In the Energy and Commerce Committee the whole Republican membership voted in complete lockstep in favor of TrumpCare in all it's miserable glory. I was happy to see that someone at the DCCC figured out that this is indeed a perfect way to hit the Republicans-- or at least the tiny handful who they are targeting. As you can see below, Leonard Lance (R-NJ), who represents a district Hillary won and who is considered vulnerable if a strong candidate like Ed Potosnak runs, voted for TrumpCare in committee. He later flip-flopped under intense pressure from his constituents and promised to vote no on the floor. But there was no floor vote-- just the record of Lance's vote in committee.

Potosnak, in fact, told supporters who have been urging him to run against Lance that he had watched the March 9th MSNBC interview with Chris Hayes when Lance explained his support for TrumpCare and defended the lack of committee hearings and expert testimony by stating "we had a 27-hour marathon session, and I think all of the issues were vetted." Ed's response was straight-forward: "Boy was Lance wrong when he said 'all of the issues were vetted.' If ever there was a time when hindsight was 20/20, for Lance it should be this moment. The problem is he changes his positions on issues with the shifting of the political winds, voting against the interests of New Jerseyans, and siding instead with party extremists... While many of us breathed a sigh of relief knowing our parents and grandparents weren’t going to be priced out of health insurance and lifesaving emergency room visits would remain covered for the 'foreseeable future,' I couldn't stop thinking back to what really happened down in Washington in past few weeks. Not long before Lance was against AHCA in his frequent TV appearances, his March 9th vote in favor of the AHCA aimed to throw 24 million Americans off health insurance and raise the uninsured rate in his own congressional district by 65% kicking 24,231 of his constituents off medical insurance. He commented he voted yes on the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act saying 'we have gone to the American people with Paul Ryan’s better way. And we campaigned on the fact that we were going to improve the system. And I think that’s what we`ve done.' But as pressure mounted here at home and from many groups like AARP and hospitals, he flip-flopped and set out to erase his early crucial support of AHCA vote from people’s memories." The DCCC ad, if they put some bucks behind it, will remind voters in Somerset, Union and Hunterdon counties what Leonard Lance was really doing down in DC, which wasn't always what he was saying to folks in Mount Olive, Montgomery, Hillsborough and... yes, Bedminster.

This is a good ad and the DCCC should make one like for everyone on the list. It starts running Monday and I hear there are ads like it for 13 other Republicans who voted for TRumpCare in their committees including Carlos Curbelo (FL), Ryan Costello (PA), John Faso (NY), Mimi Walters (CA), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL), Pete Roskam (IL), Erik Paulsen (MN), Pat Meehan (PA), Tim Walberg (MI) and Ryan Costello (PA).

• Greg Walden (OR)
• Joe Barton (TX)
• John Shimkus (IL)
• Tim Murphy (PA)
• Mike Burgess (TX)
• Marsha Blackburn (TN)
• Steve Scalise (LA)
• Robert Latta (OH)
• Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
• Gregg Harper (MS)
• Leonard Lance (NJ)
• Brett Guthrie (KY)
• Pete Olson (TX)
• David McKinley (WV)
• Adam Kinzinger (IL)
• Morgan Griffith (VA)
• Gus Billirakis (FL)
• Bill Johnson (OH)
• Billy Long (MO)
• Larry Bucshon (IN)
• Bill Flores (TX)
• Susan Brooks (IN)
• Markwayne Mullin (OK)
• Richard Hudson (NC)
• Chris Collins (NY)
• Kevin Cramer (ND)
• Tim Walberg (MI)
• Mimi Walters (CA)
• Ryan Costello (PA)
• Buddy Carter (GA)

How could they be so stupid? Well, that would be a logical question except for one little grouping of 4 letters: D-C-C-C. Take the Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee. The DCCC is thinking about targeting maybe 6 of them-- Lance, McKinley, Brooks, Walberg, Walters and Costello. The ads for 5 of them are a great step in the right direction but maybe one or two will actually get a real full scale challenge; maybe. The rest will walk free and clear regardless of having voted to kick millions of people off healthcare. Hard to believe, huh? Same in the Budget committee. Maybe 4-- maybe zero-- may get challenges from the DCCC. 4 from that committee are included in the ad campaign. The rest are home free with no worries about having enabled and supported the unpopular and destructive TrumpCare. That's the DCCC. I would strongly recommend never, under any circumstances, supporting their efforts no matter how good they make them sound. Instead, contribute directly to candidates you want to help-- like the ones at the thermometer on the right.