The Angle

The Angle: “Skinny Repeal” Edition

Slate’s daily newsletter on the GOP’s health care Plan C, “transparency” in the Trump administration, and the problem with trying to reduce rats.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell emerges from the Senate Chamber following a Tuesday vote to open debate on the GOP health care plan.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Getting desperate: This afternoon, Republicans passed a “motion to proceed” on their Obamacare repeal act. This means the Senate will debate health care reform for 20 hours before voting on “amendments.” It’s still uncertain whether the Better Care Reconciliation Act will pass, so Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Plan C is reportedly a stripped-down “skinny repeal” plan that would end the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and some taxes, but leave the rest of the law intact. Jordan Weissmann explains this desperate legislative tactic.

“The most innocent victim”: After Justine Damond was killed by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor on July 15, debate began over what it means when an unarmed white woman is shot by a black officer. Leon Neyfakh dissects the rhetoric.

Seeing through: The word “transparent” has been getting a workout lately from Trump and his associates. Katy Waldman peers through and finds … yet another strategy, “a performance of having nothing to hide that begins as soon as someone pulls the curtain back.”

Don’t trust the rat stats: If you thought New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Neighborhood Rat Reduction Plan sounded too good to be true, Jonathan Auerbach agrees. He outlines how progress toward de Blasio’s other policy goals hasn’t been sustainable, perhaps because of the oldest statistics trick in the book: the regression trap.

For fun: There was no Last Week Tonight this week, but hey, you can watch last night’s episode of That Was the Week That Was … which originally aired on April 20, 1963.

Any reason to go back in time now, right?
Chau