And as I read today's ADN on why our Rep. Don Young changed his vote to yes, it seems he believes that it was just symbolic.
From Rep. Don Young:
“'This bill we passed today will not become law. It’ll be changed as time goes by. But unless we move it, or move a vehicle, nothing’s going to happen, and that’s not good,' Young said Thursday in an interview after the vote."He was 'promised' there would be changes to protect Alaska which reports say comes out worst of all states under this legislation.
“I got a commitment from the speaker to take care of the disproportionate cost — we and Illinois are really hurt the worst but we think we can take care of that,” Young said.
“And I know we have the money, about $19 billion that can be dispersed” to offset costs, he said. “I’ve talked to the Secretary (of Health and Human Services) — Dr. (Tom) Price — and he assures me that (Alaska) will be made whole, if it was to become law.”I'm not a big Don Young fan, but he is a wily politician and he either knows that this bill won't make it through the Senate as is, or even at all. Or he believes he'll get what he was promised. Given this administration, I suspect the former.
And Alaska's US Senator Lisa Murkowski confirms my impression:
"Murkowski said she fears the House “is basically trying to just build the votes rather than build good policy,” and get the “monkey off its back” to pass the bill along to the Senate."
November 2018 is going to be the most interesting and probably the nastiest mid-term election in a long time.
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