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I have a couple of process questions.

Is this bill being taken up in the Senate under the reconciliation process by which only 51 votes are needed to pass?

If not, I assume the bill can be filibustered in the Senate in which case I believe 60 votes are needed for cloture?

The article says, The bill doesn’t repeal all of ObamaCare because it can’t without Democratic help under the Senate’s budget rules, which implies that it is being taken up under reconciliation. Am I to conclude that if the process undertook to repeal Obamacare outright it could not be done under reconciliation and would therefore be subject to filibuster?

Why are we so passively accepting Mitch McConnell's diktat that the filibuster rule will not be eliminated for regular legislation even as it has been done by him to confirm Justice Gorsuch?

I think the answers to these questions tells us whether the italicized statement above is true or not. That is, unless as a practical matter Republican defections would require some Democrat Senators even under reconciliation to bring the vote up to 51.

Perhaps those with full access to the article can explain.

Is this bill being taken up in the Senate under the reconciliation process by which only 51 votes are needed to pass?

I believe that is the intent but I've heard some speculation that features of the bill don't qualify for reconciliation so we'll see.

Why are we so passively accepting Mitch McConnell's diktat that the filibuster rule will not be eliminated for regular legislation even as it has been done by him to confirm Justice Gorsuch?

He's the leader of the Senate so he has more than a little control over it. But there just aren't 51 votes to do away with the filibuster.

"Am I to conclude that if the process undertook to repeal Obamacare outright it could not be done under reconciliation and would therefore be subject to filibuster?"

NB...

Yes, it would be subject to filibuster. If my memory is correct, Obamacare wasn't a stand alone bill, bit a rider on a funding bill. Because of this fact, we have been told it could be undone in the Senate with 51, Mark Levin was on a screed about this about a year after O-care was passed. Tangent to this do you remember the tricks they did in the Senate to make it work? The adding as a rider was to prevent any changes, an up and down vote because changes meant reconciliation and the chance of failure, they couldn't risk it in the house and do it all again, because they lost the 60, Kennedy Died and Scott Brown took "his seat".

Now how many changes can Rand Paul and or other Senators make without violating the spirit of this as a reconciliation bill is the question. I have heard they may have more leeway, and I have also heard V.P. Pence can invoke some Senate rules to negate resistance, I am not wonk in regards to Senate rules, perhaps another Freeper can opine who is really up to speed on this.

"Why are we so passively accepting Mitch McConnell's diktat that the filibuster rule will not be eliminated for regular legislation even as it has been done by him to confirm Justice Gorsuch?"

I think a tangent question is why is Mitch so Passive. With the 60 threshold, I don't see PDJT's Tax Bill even getting to the Senate Floor with Cloture / Filibuster. While we had a number of defectors ( Spectre, Collins ) to get them to vote on O-Care on the Floor, I can't see 8 Dem's defecting even if it is to save their sorry @$$es in 18' since they reside in Pro-Trump States. He will have to go Nuclear at this point, their is no real comity anymore, comity to give your opponents views a venue to be heard, so screw it, ram them like they rammed us.

I am quite sure there are not 50 Republican senators who will support this bill, the issue of cloture will not arise.

In fact, I’m sure Schumer will want a vote as soon as possible. If there are 45 votes for this, I will be amazed.

As others have pointed out, this bill perpetuates a doomed system, and transfers total ownership of the catastrophe from the Democrats to the Republicans.

Obamacare won’t be repealed, because it can’t be repealed - or, more exactly, it can’t be repealed without ushering in huge Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.

Members of Congress don’t know much, but they can count votes like a pimp in a whorehouse can count money.

Yes, the voters “hate Obamacare and want it repealed”. That is absolutely true.

It’s also true that they want the ability to buy insurance for pre-existing conditions, want insurance companies to be forbidden to cancel policies for non-payment, want zero payment at the point of service, want their adult children who are smoking dope in a dive in Oakland to stay covered, want their States to expand Medicaid without taxes going up, and so on.

In other words, the only two things they hate about Obamacare are paying for it, and the name.

Republicans in Congress understand this perfectly well, which is why they can’t write a coherent bill.

And, not coincidentally, Obamacare (and Romneycare) were the culmination of fifty years of “reform”, all of which had the purpose of destroying the private sector or making it impossible for the private sector to function, except for boob jobs and a few other things. And, by 2009, the mission was largely accomplished.

Obamacare was merely a temporary mop-up operation, until full nationalization was possible.

And now, it is.

Like Nixon to China, Trump will propose single payer within the year. It’s really the only way out at this point.

And before you accuse me of favoring it, realize that it will destroy a lifetime of work for me. I don’t like it - I hate it.

But it’s coming, because it’s what the voters, bless their pointy little heads, want.

“Why are we so passively accepting Mitch McConnell's diktat that the filibuster rule will not be eliminated for regular legislation even as it has been done by him to confirm Justice Gorsuch?”

I have a very hard time trying to figure out what The Turtle's game plan is. From my perspective, when and if the RATs regain the Senate, All these “rules” regarding the filibuster will go the way of the dodo bird. “Comity” in the Senate is dead forever. If there ever was any useful purpose for these arcane “rules” which evidently are not prescribed by the Constitution, they are long-gone. So with that in mind, it's hard to watch the GOPe trying to “save the Senate” while allowing the RATs to prevail when they don't have to let them. If the Senate doesn't function as a legislative body any longer, $hit can it and get on with the House being the only legislative body. And the other thing that needs to happen is for the SCOTUS to actually make rulings, a lot more of them. These nine turds haven't done an honest day's work in decades. Plus it's long past time for the House to do it's constitutional duty and discipline our judges who think they ARE the law, starting with the Ninth Circuit (circus).