Posted on 03/24/2017 6:53:32 AM PDT by MaxistheBest
Reports from Capitol Hill today indicate rising exasperation among old-school conservatives about the shifting, raise-the-ante, refuse-to-say-"yes" demands from most members of the House Freedom Caucus, with regard to the upcoming vote on the House Republican healthcare bill.
The exasperation is well-justified.
The House Freedom Caucus is clearly driven by outside groups such as Heritage Action, which has become such an all-or-nothing, my-way-or-the-highway outfit that it makes Patrick Henry look like a compromising squish. It seems as if every concession made to the Freedom Caucus is met with a new demand.
I just returned from a barbecue place in conservative Mobile, Ala., where a longtime Republican activist stopped me and asked: "Are we going to get a health bill? Are these guys in Congress ever going to prove they can govern? Will they ever know when to get to 'yes'? Are we ever going to stop making the perfect the enemy of the good?" This was a conservative stalwart in deep-red Alabama, not a centrist Long Island inheritor – and even he was disgusted by the House Freedom Caucus' behavior.
The House leadership's original bill contained a lot of good features but doubtless left much to be desired. Its policy mix was poorly cobbled together; the political groundwork for it was nearly non-existent; and the public relations surrounding its release was slow, muted and confused. But since then, the Trump White House and the leadership team have made yeomen's efforts to improve the bill. They have listened, reconsidered, adjusted and reworked a number of provisions — especially by encouraging block grants and work requirements for Medicaid.
But the House Freedom Caucus leaders and their outside pressure groups have refused to get on board even to keep alive what surely will be the only vehicle to replace Obamacare that will come up this year. They have no respect for the reality that the budget "reconciliation" rules do indeed put real parameters on what can be included in such legislation with just 51 votes. They show no memory of how the only reason the whole of Obamacare passed in 2010 was because the Senate did meet a 60-vote threshold on Christmas Eve of 2009 and then used that vote as pretext for claiming reconciliation rules either already had been met or else no longer applied — and thus that Democrats then had an advantage Republicans do not enjoy right now.
They show no understanding that whatever they vote on in the House will absolutely be altered in the Senate and that they in the House will, therefore, get another chance to vote yea or nay on final passage. In effect, the first floor vote in the House amounts, de facto if not de jure, to a procedural vote. Without this vote, they absolutely will not be able to meet their campaign pledges to replace Obamacare. And they will make the Republican Congress and the new White House look hopelessly inept, destroy any political momentum from the election, explode comity within the House and Senate Republican caucuses, and badly hobble the entire conservative agenda in a flurry of mutual recriminations.
Yes, the whole process should be slowed down once it reaches the Senate. Senators should include House conservatives in behind-the-scenes negotiations as the Senate tries to rework the bill. The final bill should be crafted to fit as much within reconciliation rules as possible, should be accurately scored by the Congressional Budget Office before a vote, should be available for members of Congress and the public to read for a full week before the final vote, and should have parts that actually fit together rather than working at cross-purposes.
Yet all of this is best done in the Senate. Only the Senate really can determine how much to squeeze within its own peculiar reconciliation rules. Only the Senate can determine how conservative a bill can be without losing just three of 52 Republican members.
Yes. I could care less what technical maneuvering is needed to properly appease the house parliamentarian, the mechanics involved, etc. This bill is not explicitly repeal and replace of Obamacare. Nor does the bill or Congress define the path (specific actions and dates) to do so.
Premiums remain high. Deductibles remain damn near unreachable. Healthcare costs continue to rise without any driver to reverse it. Foolish Ocare rules are affecting quality of care, accessibility to care, and have had consequences on jobs and the economy.
I can see assume some of the major decisions to be made and key tasks needed. I cannot see any excuse for repeal and replace to happen very soon.
Ryan needs to apologize to all American families paying for insurance we cannot afford to use. Starting with mine. Then he needs to step down and a strong Conservative leader take his place.
The Ryan bill will be approved and many of those voting for it will lose their seats next year. It will serve them right.
No, if they rubber stamp this bill, we will still have ACA.
No we won't. The coming Obamacare disaster will FORCE the 'Rats to work with the Republicans to come up with a replacement. I don't know why people can't understand this.
The Obamacare collapse will be a hard-earned lesson for the snowflake voters and could make the 'Rats a minority party for decades.
It’s not a repeal - it’s an enhancement.
Enhancements make things better. There is nothing in this that will not either maintain a bad situation in place or else make it worse.
And election day we still have Obamacare
Interesting Freudian slip in your post.
Baloney. There’s no reason, except corruption, the House couldn’t have written a decent bill. They just did as usual, and kissed the lobbyists butt. That’s Paul Ryan’s fault. You can’t lay this rotten egg at the feet of conservatives. They’re trying to do what was promised.
I don't, so please explain why the Democrats will not leave the whole mess in the Republican's hands?
The Freedom Caucus are the only sane ones on this. They see RyanCare for what it is - a great fat prize to the rentseeking insurance companies who badly regret their embrace of ObamaCare and want a do-over that screws all of us but makes them whole. RyanCare is just ObamaCare with favors added for the insurance companies. The correct solution is a completely free market in medical services/insurance.
I suspect you are correct. The author, ran for Alabama’s 1st District Congressional Seat in 2014. He placed FOURTh in the Republican primary. Methinks there is a large portion of sour grapes in his article.
Gwjack
P.S. Apparently he is another pseudo intellectual that doesn’t comprehend what the word REPEAL means.
It does make things better - from the perspective of ACA. For those who didn’t like ACA, it makes things w9rse.
It won't go down all at once. There will be chaos for those insured through it, and those trying to figure out the mandates for employers and insurance companies.
Not to mention chaos in the economy.
But, I guess that's just fine.
One doesn't "appoint" a Speaker of the House. He or she wins an election.
Fine with me. the people who are covered by Obozocare who will not have coverage as companies drop them are the illegals, the Medicaid folks, the homeless. They get better care than I do since they ride to a Level IV Trauma Center in a $200,000 ambulance with EMT’s by their side every time they have a headache or the flu. They will be fine.
How do you blame the Republicans, who did not cast a single vote for Obamacare, for the collapse of OBAMAcare? It is OBAMAcare. Not TRUMPcare. OBAMAcare.
And when it crashes and burns the people will know who is responsible: A lying 'Rat Party, a lying 'Rat President, and a lying 'Rat Media.
Count me in as well.
I marvel at how many people have taken a liking to their ball and chain.
Trust the SEnate to straighten it all out? LOLOLOL
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