Trevor Noah tries to explain just how crazy and reckless the Senate GOP's DIY health-care legislating really is
President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell managed to bring TrumpCare back from the dead, getting 50 Republicans senators and Vice President Mike Pence to agree to start debate on ... well, some sort of health-care bill, Trevor Noah marveled on Tuesday's Daily Show. McConnell couldn't get 50 votes on any of the many GOP plans to repeal and/or replace ObamaCare, even his own, Noah said, so "then, I guess, Mitch McConnell smoked some weed and was like, 'You can't vote for a bill if you don't have a bill.'"
Now, the Senate is in the midst of a bizarro legislative process to revamp one-fifth of the U.S. economy, and everybody's health-care options, on the fly this week. "The new GOP plan is to reinvent the national health-care system by Thursday? I admire their optimism," Noah said. "And by the way, this isn't three real days, it's technically 20 hours of actual working time. Twenty hours, that's all they have. And 20 hours is not a lot of time to build a new health-care system — hell, I can't even build an Ikea bookshelf in 20 hours."
He tried to explain to Republican senators (and anyone else who's both confused and interested) what they are doing. Instead of trying to repeal and replace ObamaCare the normal way, through committee markups and hearings — "because you knew your ideas would die of exposure," he said — the Senate GOP "tried to write the bill in a 13-dude chamber of secrets," and when that failed, McConnell's "new plan is to throw the entire national health-care system out on the Senate floor, let everyone randomly spitball on what it should be, and then you hope that 51 of them agree by the end of the week."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"No one knows how that will turn out — nobody knows," Noah said. "The one thing we do know is Mitch McConnell is determined to pass something. How determined?" He imagined the conversation McConnell had to get John McCain, fighting brain cancer, to return to Washington to vote. Watch below. Peter Weber
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?
speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8
speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Immigration helped the US economy outpace peers
speed read The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.2% last quarter
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
4-day workweek gets boost from UK study
Speed Read Following a six-month trial, the majority of participating British companies are still using the truncated schedule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US sues to block Kroger-Albertsons merger
Speed Read The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $24.6 billion merger between the grocery giants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Nvidia sees historic stock rise on AI chips success
Speed Read U.S. chipmaker Nvidia achieved the biggest one-day increase in value of any company in history
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York may seize Trump's assets for $450M penalty
Speed Read The former president likely owes $600 million from two civil judgments in New York
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Capital One to buy Discover for $35B
Speed Read The deal, if cleared by regulators, would create the biggest credit card lender in the country
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published