According to Politico, the Republicans “readily and publicly admit that repeal [of ObamaCare] is impossible in the next four years unless something outrageous happens.” It is also almost impossible that the Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives in the next four years. What this means is that the Republican House will have to take some responsibility for the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act even as their leader continues to tout repeal of the law as a goal. This is hardly an ideal situation.
The Republicans had hoped that the Supreme Court would overturn the Act. When that failed to happen, they hoped that Mitt Romney would be elected and could shred the law. That also failed to happen. So, now they are going to treat ObamaCare like some combination of the Vince Foster suicide and the Fast & Furious controversy.
“I’ve long maintained there are three possible routes to repeal of ObamaCare: the courts, the presidential election, and our constitutional responsibility for oversight,” Boehner wrote in a letter to House Republicans earlier this month. “With two of them having come up short, the third and final of these becomes more important than ever.”
You to need to be prepared to witness House Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) issue countless meritless subpoenas in an effort to discredit the implementation of ObamaCare. Yet, even as the Republicans kick and scream, they will have to pass bills that fund and regulate the health reforms. If they find real problems, their constituents will expect them to fix those problems, not hold them up as political banners.
The GOP seems to have settled into an unfamiliar place. They have gerrymandered the House to the point that they have safe control of the lower chamber, but they are finding it increasingly difficult to win statewide races, so control of the Senate is becoming difficult to attain, and winning the White House seems out of reach for the foreseeable future. As a result, their primary responsibility is to use the House to fund the operations of the federal government. This is distasteful to them because they oppose most of what the federal government does and they are committed to the proposition that the federal government isn’t any good at doing what it does. They don’t seem to realize that holding hearings about the difficulties involved in implementing health care reform will only make them look incompetent. The implementation of the reforms is, after all, their responsibility.
We are at the beginning of a process that is going to change the natures of both major parties. At the outset, the GOP is going to be throwing a lot of tantrums. But, by being shut out of the White House and limited to control of the House, over time they will become legislators. Right now, their instinct is to punt these decisions back to the states.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), another top supporter of repeal, said his focus will turn to trying to allow states to implement the law as they want.
“As Republicans, we have to say we’re going to repeal this as soon as we can,” DeMint said. “Until then, we’re going to do everything we can to allow the states that want to, to do this the right away. If we can do that, we’ll have accomplished a lot given the political climate.”
Sen. DeMint’s remarks ring hollow, however, when you consider that most Republican governors are refusing to set up their own health care exchanges which is forcing the federal government to do it for them. Ultimately, the House Republicans will have to resign themselves to overseeing the work of the Department of Health & Human Services. They will be confronted with a basic lie at the heart of their ideology. When they punt health policy to the states, they will find health policy punted right back to them, because it isn’t true that Republicans prefer policy to be set at the state and local level. The truth is that they are hostile to government on all levels. The longer they control the House, the less operative that false ideology will be.
I’m sorry. I’m still laughing my ass off at your headline. The best that can be hoped for is for the GOP to keep passing C.R.’s. That’s continuing resolutions, for those that don’t know. They fund government at previous levels. There is one other problem. Want to know why we have no shot in places like South Dakota? Because no one, say Tim Johnson, probably counters the lies of Rusty Limpballs. Does Johnson ever tout the benefits of ObamaCare to the citizens of South Dakota in a pro-active manor?
He probably does have a manor. No idea if it is pro-active, however.
What I mean is stuff like this:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/288432-1
And just remember that Gene Taylor called himself a Democrat. And he got smoked in ’10, despite trying to act like a GOPer.
Last time I was in South Dakota I ran into a guy who genuinely believed that the recession was invented by the media. You see, he had been given his father’s tow truck business, along with an expensive truck and use of his father’s second home, and so obviously there wasn’t any sort of actual recession.
The irony here is rich.
Dollars to donuts the whole idea of having the states control their own exchanges no doubt was a sop to Republican fetish for ‘local control’, yet they want nothing to do with it when given the opportunity.
Second is that if they woulda passed this very Republican bill, they’d have no problem with any of it. All the outrage is fake.
Actually they would have passed if it did not include the Medical Loss Ratio provision and several other provisions which regulate the insurance companies and lower costs.
Fox will need to choose some here. Will they shine the spotlight on Issa as their personal Crusader and leave Cantor to spin on a lonely stage; call Boehner a lost cause? Where’s the entertainment going to be for them?
For the House Rep’s they may find a lonely road. For the Senate, if Reid takes the filibuster off the table, the Rep will implode then the stunner will be that real negotiation and compromise will be back on the table in its place. Well, maybe.
Nothing scares the GOP more than health care reform. They know that, effectively administered, it will extend the social contract. Since the main purpose and function of the GOP is to keep the wealthy unfettered, they will do everything they can to resist successful implementation (even if it results in an electoral route). So be prepared for obstruction, obstruction and more obstruction.
Fortunately, we have a very smart president in the White House at this crucial time of implementation. Obama is a chess player who will run circles around them. Doesn’t mean we’ll be successful because a lot of what’s to come is completely unprecedented. But I like our chances a lot better having him on our team.
The SCOTUS might butcher the plan yet in regards to the religious exemption or lack thereof.