This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Breaking news this morning about the so-called health care bill (it's really a tax cut for the wealthy bill) that was before the U.S. Senate.

"Washington • In a bruising setback, Senate Republican leaders are delaying a vote on their prized health care bill until after the July 4 recess, forced to retreat by a GOP rebellion that left them lacking enough votes to even begin debating the legislation, two sources said Tuesday. ...

" ... Utah's Mike Lee became the fifth Republican senator to oppose letting the chamber formally begin considering the proposal. ..."

Or, put another way:

Everyone?

Well, The Washington Post did find a couple of writers to defend the Senate bill.

One is a policy wonk who has worked for Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, who defends the Senate bill by saying things that nobody else believes:

Senate health-care bill could be one of the GOP's greatest accomplishments — Avik Roy | Special to The Washington Post

" ... The end result will be a thriving, consumer-driven individual insurance market, with as many as 30 million participants, available to the healthy and the sick and the young and the old, whose successes will lay the groundwork for future efforts at entitlement reform. ..."

The other is the Post's token op-ed Trump supporter (real conservative pundits Jennifer Rubin and George F. Will detest the president and just about everything he stands for) who says something I wish we could believe:

If the Senate bill fails, there is nothing left but single-payer — Hugh Hewitt | Special to The Washington Post

As for the Health Care Bill That Everybody Hates?

A partial list:

The GOP healthcare plan will devastate Los Angeles — Los Angeles Times Editorial

" ... With expanded Medicaid, there was finally a mappable route to viability and perhaps admission to the ranks of the middle class for Los Angeles County's poor, sick, mentally ill, addicted and others living on the margins — and a route to a higher quality of life for the rest of us, who are at times overwhelmed by the misery we see on our streets and at times angry that the government that we elect and fund has done so little about it. Without it — and with the Republican prescription for healthcare, homelessness and public safety — we can expect our poor neighbors to become poorer. And more numerous."

" ... Yet perhaps nothing in the CBO's analysis was more damning than its conclusion that none of this disruption is needed. The current system is not perfect, but it is also not collapsing. ..."

Senate health care bill: What's worse than 'mean'? — Baltimore Sun Editorial

"If President Donald Trump thought the House's health care bill was "mean," what's the right word for the Senate version? Brutal? Heartless? Cynical? ..."

Senate bill bad for Montana's health — Billings Gazette Editorial

" ... We call on Sen. Steve Daines to oppose this Senate bill that was written in secret without public input. We challenge Daines to champion Montana's health care needs by insisting on reforms that actually cut the costs of health care for Americans rather than imposing arbitrary federal caps that will keep Montanans from getting care when they need it. ..."

Senate health care bill is unconscionable — San Jose Mercury News Editorial

" ... It takes hundreds of billions of dollars now allocated to care for the working poor, women, children and elderly, and gives it to rich Americans in the form of a huge tax break. It is, to borrow President Trump's behind the scenes assessment of the House's bill, mean. We'll add, unconscionable. ..."

How the Republicans' health-care plan betrays Republicans' own principles — Catherine Rampell | The Washington Post

"The Senate Republicans' health-care plan, like the House Republicans' health-care plan, is objectively terrible. ..."

Senate Republicans take one more shot at seniors — Jennifer Rubin | The Washington Post

"The media and many politicians focus on Medicaid's support for the poor. That ignores a bigger policy and political problem for states. It's one thing to cut support for people who Kellyanne Conway thinks need to go out and work (actually, about 80 percent of adults on Medicaid live in a household in which at least one person is employed, which shows how much the White House cares about the topic); it's another to throw people's grandparents out of nursing homes. ..."

It's difficult to recognize America in the new health care bill — Janet I. Jenson | For The Salt Lake Tribune

"The health care bill that the Senate will vote on this week makes it difficult for me to recognize my country. We are the richest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world, but our elected representatives are seriously considering enacting a law that will deny medical care to children, the poor, the elderly, the disabled and those of us who now suffer or will suffer someday from cancer, strokes, heart disease and other diseases or injuries. ..."

Congress puts Trump ahead of its constitutional duty — Scott Williams | For The Salt Lake Tribune

" ... It's fine to have a proposal developed by a working group of members, however it appears the Senate leadership — and all the Republican members — are aiming to bring the legislation to the floor and pass it quickly with their majority vote. No hearings. Little time for true examination and debate. Not enough time to allow the will of the people to be heard. ..."

From Worse to Bad on Health Care — Ross Douthat | The New York Times

"The Obamacare replacement that the House sent to the Senate might as well have had a note scrawled across its pages: Save us from ourselves. ..."

"The bill is a disaster in the making for America's opioid epidemic."

The big lies about the Republican health care — E.J. Dionne | The Washington Post

"Washington • To succeed in gutting health coverage for millions of Americans, Senate Republican leaders need to get a series of lies accepted as truth. Journalists and other neutral arbiters must resist the temptation to report these lies as just a point of view. A lie is a lie. ..."

The GOP Can Only Defend Itself by Lying — Jamelle Bouie | Slate

"Because the truth of the Republican health care bill is unbearably cruel."