美国国家公共电台 NPR Nevada Voters, Divided Over Health Care, Put Moderate Republican In Tough Spot

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

When senators come back to Washington on Monday, a handful of Republicans will decide the fate of a bill that could reshape health care in America. Republicans have been promising¹ for years to repeal² and replace the Affordable³ Care Act, or Obamacare. Senate leaders say this is their best chance to do it. And one of the holdouts is Nevada's Republican Senator Dean Heller. Our co-host Ari Shapiro went to Nevada to see what it feels like for a lawmaker at the center of the debate.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "WAR NOW: THE WAYNE ALLYN ROOT SHOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Warning - you're about to experience the most passionate⁴, high-energy, controversial show of your life. Please buckle⁵ up.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE⁶: For three hours each day, the conservative talk radio host Wayne Allyn Root broadcasts out of his home studio just outside Las Vegas. He has piles of framed photographs here showing him with President Trump⁷, Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan and other conservative heroes.

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Some of them are older, and some of them are newer - Ted⁸ Cruz, Rand Paul.

SHAPIRO: I ask him how many of the people who call into his show these days want to talk about health care, and he says all of them.

ROOT: Oh, every caller talks about voting Heller out. I don't think I have a caller who doesn't talk about - if Heller votes no on the repeal, he's got to go; you've got a primary him.

SHAPIRO: Meaning find a more conservative Republican to challenge Heller when he runs for re-election next year. Root says his listeners are aghast that a Republican senator from their own state could be responsible for helping⁹ to kill this bill.

ROOT: They're very angry. They're irate¹⁰. They're enraged¹¹, and they have a rage towards Dean Heller because if someone elects Dean Heller who believes Obamacare's terrible - and I don't care what Dean Heller thinks - his responsibility is to fight for the people that elected him. He doesn't get it.

SHAPIRO: They aren't the only ones feeling enraged.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Heller, vote no. Heller, vote no. Heller, vote no.

SHAPIRO: At Heller's Las Vegas office, a couple dozen people stand in the parking lot, chanting Heller, vote no. They wear red cloaks and white hoods¹² inspired by the TV show "The Handmaid's Tale," which is about the subjugation¹³ of women. Jean Green Dunbar acknowledges that it's an odd scene especially since it's more than a hundred degrees outside.

JEAN GREEN DUNBAR: We may look ridiculous, but we're not a bit more ridiculous than that health care bill. Say no.

SHAPIRO: I pull aside one of the organizers, Cyndi Hernandez.

He's a no vote. Shouldn't you be thanking him and congratulating him and celebrating him rather than protesting him?

CYNDI HERNANDEZ: We're just going to keep reminding him, no, no, no. This is terrible for Nevada. He's kind of flip-flopped before, and he's told people before different things. And we just want to keep reminding him, no.

SHAPIRO: The Republican senators who say they'll vote no on the health care bill fall into two camps. Members of the party's right wing think the original Senate proposal is too timid and doesn't go far enough to undo¹⁴ the Affordable Care Act. More moderate Republicans like Senator Heller think that version of the bill is harsh and goes too far. Last month Heller explained his opposition¹⁵ at a press conference.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

DEAN HELLER: I'm telling you right now. I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes insurance away from tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Nevadans.

SHAPIRO: Standing¹⁶ next to him was Nevada's popular Republican governor, Brian Sandoval. Sandoval is a crucial player here. He was the first Republican governor in the country to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. In Nevada, more than 200,000 uninsured people got coverage¹⁷. Many of those people are watching the fate of this bill to learn whether they'll be able to keep going to their doctor. Maria Vital is a nurse at FirstMed clinic where 80 percent of the patients are on Medicaid.

MARIA VITAL: Patients actually do voice out that this time there are concerns about it. They're also very scared. Their asking us what will happen to them.

SHAPIRO: What do you tell them?

VITAL: And I tell them, we will try to be here as long as we can for them.

SHAPIRO: If this bill passes, she says the clinic may have to close.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)

TAYLOR LEWIS: Hey.

SHAPIRO: Hi.

LEWIS: That's my dog.

SHAPIRO: Hi, guys.

Taylor Lewis lives with her 7-year-old daughter, Riley, in a modest condo with a couple of dogs and a large collection of plastic toy dinosaurs¹⁸. Riley wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up. She knows all the names.

RILEY LEWIS: A triceratop (ph), a stegosaurus.

SHAPIRO: Ten days after Riley was born, she turned blue. A helicopter rushed her to the hospital where she had emergency heart surgery. When Taylor got over the shock of her daughter's near death, she got another shock.

LEWIS: The first bill I actually received was for the helivac, and that was $20,000.

SHAPIRO: That was back when they lived in Delaware. Since they moved to Nevada a few years ago, Riley still has to go to a heart doctor every couple months.

LEWIS: She has a leak right now, so they're really keeping an eye on that.

SHAPIRO: On top of being a single mom, Taylor has been working part-time and studying part-time. She just finished her master's in public health. Until she finds a full-time¹⁹ job, she depends on Medicaid to cover all of her daughter's medical costs. She sometimes thinks about what her life would be like if Nevada had not expanded Medicaid coverage.

LEWIS: I mean I would be without anything. I would be without a car. I would be without a house. I don't know.

SHAPIRO: So on this afternoon, she's headed into downtown Las Vegas for a phone bank at a union hall.

LEWIS: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: Have you ever done anything like this before?

LEWIS: No. I've been mostly just focusing on my thesis, so this is all new to me. Can you imagine if I - you know, something happened and I wasn't able to say, well, I tried?

SHAPIRO: At the hall, a bunch of volunteers sit around tables with laptops. They come from local unions, Planned Parenthood and other liberal groups.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Welcome back (laughter).

(APPLAUSE)

SHAPIRO: They're getting people to call Heller's office and urge him to vote no on the health care bill.

(CROSSTALK)

SHAPIRO: For people on both sides of this debate, the stakes seem far higher than a typical piece of legislation. National groups on both sides have put millions of dollars into TV ads trying to sway Heller. And while this cacophony²⁰ rages, where is the senator?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HELLER: Hi, everybody. It's Fourth of July. I'm here in Elko.

SHAPIRO: He posted this video on social media. He has not done a town hall or interviews this week. That includes with us. We tried. He's been hitting small towns in the northern part of the state. In Ely, he rode a horse in the July Fourth parade. Even there, some people heckled him. Heller declined the Republican Party's invitation to march in the town of Pahrump. Local Party Chairman Joe Burdzinski dressed as George Washington in Pahrump's parade.

JOE BURDZINSKI: Well, our float won. That's the eighth year in a row. We won the most patriotic²¹. If you look behind us, you can see the trophies²² from the years past.

SHAPIRO: Burdzinski met us in the party headquarters, a hall decorated with ribbons and posters. One says Pahrump loves the Trump. To get to this town, you drive about an hour west of Las Vegas over a mountain range to the edge of Death Valley. And in this conservative community, you see the same spectrum²³ of Republican views that is dividing the Senate. Burdzinski thinks the bill is too timid. He'd stand with senators like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, holding out for a full repeal.

BURDZINSKI: The Republican Party has said for the last eight years, we're going to repeal and get rid of Obamacare. That's what Donald Trump said he wanted to do. That's what other Republicans running for office have said. Now they have to live to that commitment to the American people because that's - the American people voted for that.

SHAPIRO: Another Republican named Leo Blundo joins us, and he has more sympathy for Senator Heller. He agrees the Affordable Care Act isn't working. Fourteen of Nevada's 17 counties will have no insurance companies on the exchange next year. That would leave about 8,000 people without insurance options. But Blundo believes that if this bill fails, Republicans can come up with a better one. He rolls his eyes at Republican leaders who say that if this ship doesn't sail, they'll have to work with Democrats²⁴ on the other party's terms.

LEO BLUNDO: It's public knowledge (laughter). We've got both houses. Get some business done, you know? Oh, we can't do this; I can't do that. Listen. Quit Mickey Mousing around. Get some work done, OK?

SHAPIRO: For Senator Heller, the considerations about Medicaid expansion and repeal promises might all take a back seat to a more pressing reality. He's up for re-election next year, a Republican in a state that has gone blue for the last three presidential elections. Whatever position he takes on the final bill, he's going to make a number of friends and a whole lot of enemies.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARC MOULIN'S "HUMPTY DUMPTY")

SIEGEL: That was our co-host Ari Shapiro reporting this week from Nevada.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARC MOULIN'S "HUMPTY DUMPTY")

1 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

2 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

3 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

4 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

5 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 irate   

adj.发怒的，生气

参考例句：

• The irate animal made for us,coming at a full jump.那头发怒的动物以最快的速度向我们冲过来。
• We have received some irate phone calls from customers.我们接到顾客打来的一些愤怒的电话

11 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

12 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

13 subjugation   

n.镇压，平息，征服

参考例句：

• The Ultra-Leftist line was a line that would have wrecked a country, ruined the people, and led to the destruction of the Party and national subjugation. 极左路线是一条祸国殃民的路线，亡党亡国的路线。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This afflicted German intelligence with two fatal flaws: inefficiency, and subjugation to a madman. 这给德国情报工作造成了两个致命的弱点，一个是缺乏效率，另一个是让一个疯子总管情报。 来自辞典例句

14 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

15 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

18 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

20 cacophony   

n.刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• All around was bubbling a cacophony of voices.周围人声嘈杂。
• The drivers behind him honked,and the cacophony grew louder.后面的司机还在按喇叭，且那刺耳的声音越来越大。

21 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

22 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

23 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

24 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》