Local Indivisible groups have a message for U.S. Senator Cory Gardner — when it comes to angry constituents, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
The myriad of Colorado Indivisible groups are an offshoot of the national Indivisible movement, which began as a progressive reaction to Donald Trump's election and plan to use the Tea Party tactics of 2009 to effect change on the congressional level.
The groups are particularly outraged after the U.S. House narrowly passed a bill that would repeal and replace Obamacare. The bill is now headed to the Senate, where 13 Republican senators will craft the senate's plan.
Gardner is one of the 13 senators picked to craft a health care bill. The House's American Health Care Act bill would allow states to get federal waivers that allow insurers to charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions who have let their coverage lapse. States would then be able to use federal money to fund "high-risk pools."
But that could mean that people with pre-existing conditions would not be able to maintain coverage because it wouldn't be affordable, a health care expert told the Associated Press.
Indivisible groups have been trying — unsuccessfully so far — to persuade Gardner to hold an in-person public town hall.
Katie Farnan, of Gunbarrel, is the chair of the steering committee for Indivisible Front Range Resistance.
Farnan said that Indivisible groups across Colorado would have a phone conference Friday night to figure out how to increase pressure on Gardner to listen to constituents who don't want Obamacare repealed.
During the April recess, from April 8 to April 23, Colorado Indivisible groups tried in vain to meet with Gardner and persuade him to hold a town hall. Farnan hatched the idea for #WheresCory videos in which about 250 constituents recorded themselves stating their zip code and asking Gardner questions.
Farnan said they don't plan to let up on Gardner, especially now that he has such a pivotal role to play in shaping health coverage for Coloradans.
"He has a golden opportunity to take this horrible moldering garbage of a bill that came over from the House and work on something that is actually affordable and works for everybody," Farnan said. "And if a changed bill makes coverage less available or less affordable or not guaranteed for one single person more than it currently is, then he has to vote no."
Farnan said Indivisible groups will discuss tactics Friday night such as die-ins, where activists gather in congress members' offices and lay down or carry signs shaped like gravestones.
The Times-Call posed questions to Gardner's staff Friday about how he plans to vote on the bill, or what he would change in the bill in its current form. A Gardner spokesman responded to questions with a statement from the senator.
"Obamacare is in a state of disarray, and not acting to fix it would have terrible consequences for our state. Coloradans have had their premiums skyrocket, doctors changed and plans canceled because of Obamacare," Gardner said in an email via his spokesman Alex Siciliano. "Without congressional action, insurance companies have predicted double-digit increases on the individual market for plan year 2018, in addition to the double- digit increases Coloradans were hit with in the year prior. I look forward to working with my colleagues to complete a measure that leads to more choices, lower costs and improved care for all Coloradans."
Farnan called Gardner's statement disingenuous but said she hopes that Gardner can work on the health care bill and reach something so that everyone can access and afford coverage.
Indivisible groups also plan to target Republican House representatives who helped pass the American Health Care Act, including Ken Buck, who represents parts of Longmont.
As for Gardner, Farnan said the groups are going to "mount considerable pressure" on him to hold a public town hall and listen to his constituents' views on health care.
"Expect us to be here, more and more. Angry people talk to each other and we still want to talk to him," Farnan said. "The more frustrated we get, we're not just going to turn our TV on and look away. ... I know he isn't up for reelection until 2020. Our job is to trail him and make him do his job. He can't be doing his job if he's not listening to us, he just can't."
