Ahh, the light dawns! Finally.
Turtle’s are not known to be too swift, either mobility-wise or mentally…
But eventually, they reach a logical destination…
That would be the Sen. Pat Toomey (Club for Growth PA) who has steadfastly refused to meet with his constituents but finally decided to hold a televised forum from the Harrisburgh, PA ABC Station.
Said station, in a burst of journalistic ethics, allowed the good Senator to invite a total of EIGHT of his closest admirers to sit in a studio with him as he responded to carefully selected questions from social media.
At least Pat had the courage of his convictions, even if his math doesn’t add up. He repeated his claim that Medicaid recipients would not be impacted, yet managed not to explain how the GOP can cut something like $800 billion from Medicaid spending without impacting any recipients.
Of course, as former head of Club for Growth, Pat has been a lifelong proponent of the Laffer Curve theory that cutting taxes stimulates the economy…a theory his good buddy Sam Brownback tried on steroids in Kansas until even his own party members, standing in the rubble of the state’s economy and education system said, “I think you have made your point.”
McConnell can’t be talking about a bill to continue, support and potentially lead to a fix of the ACA? He’s gotta just be buying time or giving a head fake. But, whatever he seems to be saying, check his drink, check what’s behind his back…and check my pulse.
“No action is not an alternative,” McConnell said. “We’ve got the insurance markets imploding all over the country, including in this state.”
Given that it’s Trump and GOP action that is causing the insurance markets to implode, I’d suggest no action is the best alternative, at least until the grown ups are back in power.
You could pass a public option for places where insurers have left the exchanges. Also, pass funding for cost sharing reductions, that would give insurers confidence to stay on the exchanges. Also, pass a Medicaid expansion bill that will pass Supreme Court scrutiny.
Problem is, any cooperative bill that rescues the ACA will never make it in the House.
These guys are just whistling past the graveyard of their bill.
Don’t count on it.
If this smaller stabilizing bill is needed I have a prediction: The republicans will claim a win by saying they improved and saved the ACA by making the necessary changes that Democrats would never allow them to make when they refused to work with republicans when the ACA was passed (which is a lie). This will keep the current system in place (which was a republican idea anyway) and allows them to claim a win. Let them. President Obama has always been adult enough to put the needs of the country over his need for a political win or any legacy. The republicans, not so much.
It could if it were allowed to come to the floor when I’m guessing they could cobble together a coalition of Democrats and republicans, but it’s the freedumb caucus that blocks everything.
Soooo…
Let’s take a look at what you’ve actually done the last 10 years …
This just means they can go on screaming Obamacare ad infinitum … ho hum.
This is all about politics and not healthcare. Actually, as far as the GOP bill goes, it was never about healthcare but rather about erasing the presidency of Obama and giving a tax cuts for the very rich. But what happens now is going to be a political calculation and only a political calculation. The question is will GOP senators make a personal or party calculation. That is it may be better for the party if they repeal Obamacare but it will be far worse for several individual GOP senators whose voters will not appreciate losing their healthcare.
The political calculation itself: is it better to leave Obamacare alone, maybe make a few small fixes and try and take credit, or repeal the ACA and take credit for 23,000,000 or more losing healthcare. It is being between a rock and a hard place. As a rule Republicans from top to bottom usually fall in line behind the political calculation but as we are talking about a bill that will cause over 200,000 premature deaths to American citizens, before the 23,000,000 over half of who traditionally vote GOP, may not like playing Russian roulette with each other over who dies. That is for the GOP from the voters on up, this may be an individual and not a group decision in which case the bill will fail.
I don’t think they would ever pass an Obamacare fix. Their base would howl too rabidly about it.
If the GOP congressional leadership fails to pass anything they can (even implausibly) call Obamacare Repeal, but instead end up working with Dems to add more money to the ACA subsidies, the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the GOP / Tea Party / Trumpublican base is going to be EPIC!
If that happens, look for a new wave of Tea Party / Trumpster challengers going after “establishment” Republicans in the 2018 primaries, and quite possibly a rank-and-file revolt against Paul Ryan in the House in the meantime. I suspect McConnell would hold onto his Majority Leader status for now, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
Most importantly, if Obamacare Repeal completely crashes and burns – and especially if McConnell then turns to Democrats to help pass an Obamacare Repair bill with increased subsidies – then I expect GOP voter turnout in 2018 will wither as many GOP voters stay home in disgust over their party’s inability to keep their single most prominent pledge, despite control of both houses of Congress. I also wouldn’t rule out significant defections to Libertarian and other right-leaning third party and independent candidates (and as we all know all too well, even a relatively small number of votes getting siphoned off to “spoiler” candidates can easily determine the outcome of a close race).
And the thing is, McConnell and the rest surely must understand this as well. So if they understand all that and yet the Senate GOP still can’t pass a bill (or can’t pass one that can pass the House), then either the intra-party policy divisions are actually genuine and strong enough that they just truly can’t get Obamacare Repeal done despite the backlash they will get from their own base for failing, or else they realize that they can only get Repeal done with a bill that will be so obviously, undeniably horrible for the public and politically toxic that the cost of passing it and taking the heat that will come with that will be even higher than the cost from their base of not getting something they can call Obamacare Repeal.
Either way, squirm, motherfuckers, squirm.
This goper circle jerk has quite possibly led to the destruction of the Obamacare insurance marketplace due to the uncertainty they have caused. It is essential that the Dems make sure the gopers own this.
They should scream it from the roof tops while calling for single payer in the form of Medicare For All and let a public option be the compromise fallback. If they can make the gopers desperate enough to avoid the blame and consequences of blowing up Obamacare there may be an opportunity to move forward and at the least set the narrative for 2018 and beyond.
Having tried every horrible alternative, is it possible McConnell would try to pass a logical piece of legislation that would actually sustain the ACA? That would be the political upset of the year, though I won’t believe it until I see it.
Even if the Senate passed such a thing, could they put it through conference committee and send it to Trump to sign? Or would the House have to vote on it again? Because if it has to go through the House once more the outcome of that is anyone’s guess.
Meanwhile, Trump’s complete lack of leadership is a black hole sucking the political life out of the Republican Congress. Don’t get me wrong, if they were to just keep the lights on and not irreparably screw anything up that would be the best outcome and Democrat could hope for. I always thought Trump was an incompetent boob, but this level of dysfunction surprises even me. I thought the GOP apparatchiks would have Congress churning out reactionary legislation for Trump to sign but it has been a total bust.
My only complaint is that it seems Democrats are missing opportunities to step into the breach and distinguish themselves as the party that knows how to do things. Even if the Democrats are still trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up, the message that Republicans aren’t doing their job is a simple one that easily gets traction with voters. They need to be out there banging that drum.
The insurance markets aren’t destroyed except in a few states that haven’t supported the law. I heard a local R Congresscritter, John the Weasel Faso) admit that here in New York the ACA is working fine and there are 14 plans to choose from in his district. Yet he still voted for the R bill. Because constituents matter less than party and donors
Does the hoi polloi repiglican voter really care about repealing the ACA? I keep hearing it heralded as a campaign promise that needs to be kept, but I don’t see a lot of clamoring for its demise anywhere but in Congress. And I live in a red county in a red state. I just can’t see the repukes getting all worked up over the failure to repeal and replace like they did Death Panels in 2010.