Posted on 03/24/2017 8:05:54 PM PDT by ckinv368
The Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare—the American Health Care Act—finally came up for a final vote in the House. First put forward by Speaker Paul Ryan in 2009, it offered few surprises to Republicans. And the effort itself was very familiar, as Republicans had voted over 60 times to repeal Obamacare since its passage eight years ago. Yet, when the time came to exercise the prerogative of the majority and finally repeal and replace President Obama’s deeply flawed social program, Republicans came up short.
Over the past two weeks, moderate Republicans argued that they could not vote for a plan that did not keep certain fail-safe protections for the elderly in place. Conservative Republicans—many in the so-called “Freedom Caucus”—complained that Ryan’s plan kept popular portions of Obamacare on the books. They wanted a complete repeal, and many would accept nothing less. In the end, no-one got their wish. As Speaker Ryan admitted this afternoon, “we are going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” This, in part, because the Trump Administration refuses to have its agenda held hostage. It is sidelining healthcare and moving forward with tax reform.
Democrats are celebrating Republican missteps. And the collective finger-pointing within the Republican establishment has already begun in earnest. An early contender for sacrificial lamb is Speaker Ryan.
Without doubt, Ryan’s plan was far from perfect. As provisions were added, modified, and deleted, it became less a divination of policy genius, and more a Golden Corral smorgasbord of disparate measures designed to keep factions of the Republican Party moderately happy. Deficit reduction went down. Entitlements and complexity increased. Projections of coverage availability plummeted. Was it the plan any Republican in the House could fall in love with? Certainly not. Was it a plan that could get past a centrist-Republican Senate which had expressed significant doubts? Possibly.
Some have already blamed Ryan for failing to whip the necessary Republican votes to pass the bill. Indications were that he was as few as five votes short. With additional tweaks, pressure, threats, and a hard weekend push, the bill may have gotten across the goal line. However, that effort may have created so much ill-will that it could have hobbled the President’s policy goals for the next four years.
Conservative Republicans have been quick to point fingers at moderate Republicans, saying that these “RINOs” merely wanted to pass Obamacare-lite, without “real change.” However, the reality for Republicans in swing districts is that it’s politically difficult to remove insurance from a projected 24 million Americans over the next decade. Taking entitlements away is much more painful than granting them. And, it should also be remembered that moderate Republicans were much more willing to compromise in this effort than their hard-line brethren.
While pointing fingers, conservative Republicans in Congress should look in the mirror. Maybe these Republicans meant well, in a naïve sort of way. After all, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona (a dentist) told The Washington Post that he came to Washington “to do health care right.” Rep. Louie Gohmert said that “a no vote means we save Donald Trump from a Democratic majority in 2019.” Others vehemently argue that Obamacare should be immediately repealed, but that Congress should give itself until midterms to pontificate over a replacement (all, while millions of Americans lose health coverage). Unfortunately, none of this is politically feasible. Was the American Health Care Act exactly what the Freedom Caucus wanted? No. Did it offer conservatives the best healthcare deal they may ever get? Probably. The time had come to pass a plan that could receive 216 votes in the House, and 51 in the Senate. Conservative Republicans blew it big time.
By comparison, President Trump is nothing if not pragmatic. In an interview with Robert Costa of The Washington Post, he argued that his next efforts at healthcare reform will garner bi-partisan support once Obamacare premiums exponentially increase, coverage options decrease, and the program implodes. This is good politics. But, a bi-partisan effort guarantees that the Freedom Caucus will be locked out of negotiations, with the bill too centrist for their taste. Trump said so himself. When asked whether a bi-partisan bill would free him from having to court those farthest to the Right, he replied “a lot of people might say that,” opining that such a possibility would “end up with a better health-care plan. A great plan. And you wouldn’t need the Freedom Caucus.”
There is an old saying in Texas that seems particularly appropriate: "pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered." That colloquialism pretty much sums up the predicament conservative Republicans now find themselves in. By asking for too much, being too greedy, and demanding unrealistic provisions that had little chance of surviving a Senate vote, they may have shown themselves expendable. There’s little doubt in my mind that the healthcare debate is not over. But conservative Republicans and the Freedom Caucus may be left out of the fold the next time votes are counted.
For more commentary like this, please visit:
www.cameronkinvig.com
You’re completely full of shit!
All of those times the GOP House passed obamacare repeal bills, they passed ACTUAL repeal bills that repealed the original ACA bill lock, stock and barrel. The RyanCare bill is NOT a repeal bill and it is NOT what President Trump promised us.
In fact, President Trump’s administration had zip to do with writing the RyanCare bill, which is something Paul Ryan pulled out of his ass in a secret room and then introduced as whole cloth with NO input from ANYONE, JUST LIKE OBAMACARE was!
The RyanCare bill was 100% unrelated to those other, earlier, fake efforts. The RyanCare bill was FAR, FAR worse than obamacare itself, guaranteed to cost folks between 50-64 WAY more than the massively unaffordable obamacare premiums now.
RyanCare did NOTHING to eliminate the obamacare policy mandates making health insurance ridiculously unaffordable.
RyanCare did NOT allow insurance to be sold across state lines.
RyanCare did NOT bring back the medical system BEFORE obamacare.
We are not stupid. Stupid people did not elect President Trump. We know when people like Ryan are lying, and he’s ALWAYS been a liar and a fucking weasel!
The Conservative Cause are HEROS for standing up to Paul Ryan, a stance that allowed time for millions of us to raise our voices and ultimately convince WAY more Congressmen to oppose this than just the Conservative Caucus.
So, Neub, I STRONGLY suggest you go pimp your pathetic piece of shit blog at a more appropriate site, like therightscoop.com, where they’ll lap your bullshit up like it was chocolate sauce!
“they demand perfection in an imperfect world”
That’s what RINOs always say about conservatives.
Don’t celebrate too quickly. Read what Trump said. He is certain Obamacare will collapse on it’s own, and once the pain becomes unbearable, even Democrats will be motivated to cooperate on a new plan. There are 30 members of the Freedom Caucus, all he needs are 30 Democrats and he doesn’t need their votes.
That’s why the conservative Republicans are the biggest losers, personally, today. They got what they wanted today but perhaps at the cost of their political futures.
And by the way, Trump ran on “repeal and replace”. Not “just repeal”. So there will be a replacement, eventually.
Everything I’ve heard is that it was a GOPe bill that wasn’t going to fix anything.
Why pass such legislation?
The reality is conservatives have not been in power for decades. Even during Reagan 2-terms, democrats owned congress. Remember Tip O’Neill?
Therefore conservatives only know how to oppose bills, but have no experience in how to govern. That lack of experience was on stage today for all to view. Unless they learn how to govern, they will remain ineffective.
Are you serious? I was about to get off my expensive health insurance with coverages I do not need, but Obamacare forces me to buy. Now thanks to the holdouts, I am forced to retain my current insurance. I hate the mandate and this Ryan bill would have at least freed me from the mandate.
“And by the way, Trump ran on “repeal and replace”
There is was no repeal, only tweaking. All the good stuff in phase 3? give me a break. Zero Democrats will work with Trump on this.
This article has it backwards. This is the first step of many to a full dismantling of ACA.
If RINO’s weren’t either cowards, traitors, or just plain stupid, we could repeal it today. But alas....
See post #27.
If you can then you should run for office, because you can turn it all around.
Uniparty RINOs lost.
That’s a good thing.
All America is the loser today. The whole of Obamacare should have been dumped and a new system put in place—It would have been painful—but, like pulling off the bandage quickly—its over fast.
Did Rino’s voted no today or did the conservatives vote no?
I agree, by not voting they let remain an unconstitutional mandate when they had an opportunity to remove it.
I hope they stop criticizing Justice Roberts now for standing by his his purist principal of judicial restraint.
Let’s hope they come to their senses soon.
Today was a red letter day for REAL conservatives ss we fought and killed free socialized insurance premiums. The men in the Freedom Caucus saved the entire county and deserve great praise. Ryan must resign.He is a pathetic liberal ling about being a conservative, We never saw the bill because he hid it !! Thank you Jesus for today!!
Neither party knows how to govern any longer.
That all ended when Bill Clinton was impeached. Since then, almost every bit of legislation that has been passed is just about 100% along party lines.
“See post #27.”
My insurance was cancelled, my new one costs double, Rinocare fixes none of that. Unless you believe in phase 3
Including the GOP bills to fully fund Obamacare?
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