July 19, 2017

Republicans Failed to Invite a Key Female Senator to Health Care Negotiations. Again.

Nobody bothered to tell Susan Collins.

Sen. Susan CollinsBill Clark/ZUMA

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Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a major mistake back in May when he convened a panel of senators to craft his chamber’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. The 13-member working group he put together included exactly zero women, despite the fact that several female Republican senators were widely seen as key swing votes who would determine the fate of the legislation. That move came back to bite McConnell earlier this week, as three women Republicans—Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Shelly Moore Capito (W.Va.)—came out against the most recent GOP proposal. McConnell can only afford to lose two Republican votes, so his effort dismantle Obamacare is now on the brink of collapse.

But for a brief moment Wednesday afternoon, it looked like the health care bill might have been revived. Politico reported that holdouts opposed to the bill would be meeting Wednesday night to try to hash out their differences.


Except, it turns out, Republican leaders forgot to tell Collins.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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