The Secret Republican Plan to Repeal 'Obamacare'

National Journal ^ | 3/28/13 | Chris Frates

[SoFloFreeper]

A few minutes after the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision upholding President Obama’s health care law last summer, a senior adviser to Mitch McConnell walked into the Senate Republican leader’s office to gauge his reaction.

McConnell was clearly disappointed, and for good reason. For many conservatives, the decision was the death knell in a three-year fight to defeat reforms that epitomized everything they thought was wrong with Obama’s governing philosophy. But where some saw finality, McConnell saw opportunity — and still does.

Sitting at his desk a stone’s throw from the Senate chamber, McConnell turned to the aide and, with characteristic directness, said: “This decision is too cute. But I think we got something with this tax issue.”

He was referring to the court’s ruling that the heart of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the so-called individual mandate that requires everyone in the country to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, was a tax. And while McConnell thought calling the mandate a tax was “a rather creative way” to uphold the law, it also opened a new front in his battle to repeal it.

McConnell, a master of byzantine Senate procedure, immediately realized that, as a tax, the individual mandate would be subject to the budget reconciliation process, which exempted it from the filibuster. In other words, McConnell had just struck upon how to repeal Obamacare with a simple majority vote.

[SoFloFreeper]

...when it comes to legislative strategy, McConnell plays long ball. Beginning in 2009, the Republican leader led the push to unify his colleagues against Democrats’ health care plans, an effort that almost derailed Obamacare. In 2010, Republicans, helped in part by public opposition to the law, won back the House and picked up seats in the Senate. Last year, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s embrace of the individual mandate while Massachusetts governor largely neutralized what had been a potent political issue.

But, in the next two years, Republicans are looking to bring the issue back in a big way. And they’ll start by trying to brand the law as one that costs too much and is not working as promised.

Democrats will be tempted to continue to write off the incoming fire as the empty rhetoric of a party fighting old battles. But that would be a mistake. During the health care debate, the GOP’s coordinated attacks helped turn public opinion against reform. And in the past two years, no more than 45 percent of the public has viewed Obamacare favorably, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s tracking polls. Perhaps even more dangerous for Democrats, now-debunked myths spread by Republicans and conservative media remain lodged in the public consciousness. For instance, 40 percent of the public still believes the law includes “death panels.”

[Diogenesis]

In the next two year????
Why not NOW!!

answer: THE GOP SUPPORTS OBAMACARE/ROMNEYCARE
or they would have passed a bill to kill it yesterday.

[A CA Guy]

Several states including California which is mine has insurance carriers saying they are going to raise the hell out of rates due to Obamacare.
Those that are expected to pay nothing will of course love Obamacare and vote Obama and democrats. Those takers and the government union thieves make up that 47%, the rest are going to get pissed as more of the law is enacted IMO.

[4everontheRight]

Shhhhhhhbh it’s a secret!!!

[fatnotlazy]

Um...the death panels are not a myth. They aren’t called death panels formally, but that is just what they are.

[SoFloFreeper]

sigh.

They cannot repeal it now. Can. Not.

[elkfersupper]

Why does it have to be a secret?

My secret is that I despise Democrats and Republicans alike. Same critter, different restroom or coat closet.

[SoFloFreeper]

I agree.

[lowbridge]

bump

[A CA Guy]

No, the answer is it will take the bad law in some people’s faces draining their wallets before they wake their lazy butts up and vote something other than Democrat.

It is hard to fight a party that buys votes for power using the Treasury.

[Yosemitest]

Oh, Bullsh!t !
The GOP will lie to us in a heartbeat!
But what do we do when our side is full of TRAITORS?
I submit the following for proof.

"The Republican leadership did not allow the amendment to be considered. "
Here's the Republicans Leadership Internet Page.

Republican Leadership


John Boehner
Speaker of the House





Eric Cantor
Majority Leader





Kevin McCarthy
Majority Whip





Cathy McMorris Rodgers
House Republican Conference Chair





Greg Walden
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman





Lynn Jenkins
House Republican Conference Vice Chair





Virginia Foxx
House Republican Conference Secretary





James Lankford
Republican Policy Committee Chairman




Click on the links to tell them what you think!

Check out this link, "Senate Republicans Willfully and Knowingly Lie to Their Constituents (vote to fund Obamacare)".

The following Senators voted to pass the continuing resolution even though it still funds Obamacare.
• Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
  
  
• Sen. JohnBarrasso (R-WY)
  
  
• Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
  
  
• Sen. John N. Boozman (R-AR)
  
  
• Sen. Clarence Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
  
  
• Sen. Daniel R. Coats (R-IN)
  
  
• Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
  
  
• Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
  
  
• Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
  
  
• Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
  
  
• Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
  
  
• Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)
  
  
• Sen. John “Johnny” Isakson (R-GA)
  
  
• Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE)
  
  
• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
  
  
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
  
  
• Sen. Jefferson “Jeff” Sessions (R-AL)
  
  
• Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
  
  
• Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
  
  
• Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
  
  
If any one of those senators tells you they did not vote to fund Obamacare or, in fact, voted against funding Obamacare,
they are being mendacious.
They may have voted for Ted Cruz’s amendment,
but after it failed,
they still knowingly and willingly voted to fund Obamacare.
And now they are lying to their constituents who call them out on it.

Many of these same Senators are also supporting separate legislation to foist a massive tax increase on the American people.

[C. Edmund Wright]

I’m not a big fan of McConnell...but his strategy here seems pretty good given the realities of the Senate.

[Yosemitest]

The GOP should SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN !
We have the power to DO IT !

[okie01]

Why not NOW!!

How, exactly, would you propose they do that?

The House would vote to repeal it. Then what?

[Diogenesis]

Why not?

Why NOT try?

Answer: MITT ROMNEY and GOP began ObamaCARE/DeathCARE
and they WILL NEVER GET RID OF IT.

FUGOP

[Diogenesis]

The real deal:

YOU ARE THERE

THE IMPOSITION OF OBAMACARE/ROMNEYCARE
AND DEATH PANELS BY MYTH ROMNEY,
THE “SWIMMER” AND THEIR TRAINED (INCARCERTED, TESTIFYING) FELON.

[bmwcyle]

It has to be secret because they are using stealth technology. You will never see it coming.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

How about before we get rid of Obamacare, we bring back US jobs?

Huh?

What is the GOP going to do?

Either back US jobs. Or don’t. But if you don’t back US jobs, then get out of the way as for who pays for healthcare, because it’s not going to work as an employer paid benefit if you do not have a JOB.

Stop getting rid of US jobs. Then we’ll talk.

[muawiyah]

The House passed a bill to repeal ObamaKKKare. The Senate is ruled by Democrats ~ no legislation gets sent to the floor without the approval of Harry Reid.

I presume everybody knows how the Constitution works in regard to passage of legislation.

[muawiyah]

They set the standards of care ~ and are very real. If the standard of care for 70 year olds is a pain pill, that’s what you get.