Last week, the Republican "repeal" and replace effort died an embarrassing and very public death. Then, the GOP top brass informed us that we'd be "living with ObamaCare" for the forseeable future, because (for reasons no one understood) they were moving on to other things. Now it appears that's not the case. Stories of the AHCA's demise may have been premature.
According to a bit of spectacular understatement from Paul Ryan, the bill has been experiencing "growing pains." It is not, however, dead.
“You promised to repeal Obamacare for seven years. Your bill didn’t survive three weeks. What happened?” O’Donnell asked.
“Well, it hasn’t survived yet. What happened is, we are going through, what I would call, a very painful growing pain. I’d like to see the growth at the end of that pain, which is we had been an opposition party for 10 years,” Ryan said. “And I’ve been long saying, if we’re going to be successful, deliver for the American people, improve people’s lives, we’ve got to become a proposition governing party. … About 90 percent of our members are for this bill. We’re not going to give up after seven years of dealing with this, after running on a plan all of last year, translating that plan into legislation, which is what this is.”
So what’s the Plan B?
“Plan B is we keep talking to each other and figure out how we get to yes, and how we get this bill passed,” Ryan said.
“So you’re not changing the policy, you’re just putting more pressure?” O’Donnell asked.
“No, we’re listening to people. If we can make improvements to this bill, all the better. So if improvements can be made to this legislation that get people to yes, that’s great,” Ryan said.
Hmmmm.... "If" we can make improvements? Sorry, but there is virtually no one who is satisfied with the bill as it stands. In fact, I'd argue that any legitimate conservative who knows the details of the bill could offer a whole host of "improvements" with little or no effort.
Adding the "if" is either A: an indication that Ryan is currently looking for ways to finagle votes with as little alteration to the bill as possible. Or, B: He's posturing to make it sound like alterations are going to be nigh-impossible when he knows full well they're going to have to happen in order for this thing to pass.
Either way, it doesn't sound like he's particularly enthusiastic about making necessary changes. ...And yes, they're very, very, necessary. They'd also better happen quickly, because it looks like House Republicans are champing at the bit.
From Bloomberg:
House Republicans are considering making another run next week at passing the health-care bill they abruptly pulled from the floor in an embarrassing setback to their efforts to repeal Obamacare.
Two Republican lawmakers say that leaders are discussing holding a vote, even staying into the weekend if necessary, but it’s unclear what changes would be made to the GOP’s health bill. They described the discussions on condition of anonymity.
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, who helped derail the bill, have been talking with some Republican moderate holdouts in an effort to identify changes that could bring them on board with the measure.
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Let's see, we've gone from "repeal and replace" to collapse, to dismissal of the issue, to reluctant effort, to a reboot in the space of a week and a half? Someone in GOP-land needs to get their act together because this is quite clearly a massive cluster-you-know-what.
Unlike some *ahem* other columnists, I'm of the opinion that legitimate, politically acceptable, full repeal and replacement legislation should have been ready day one. They had eight years. The excuses are baloney, particularly the "this is a different Congress so they couldn't have something ready" line. Most of these people are exactly where they were a year, two years, even 6 years ago. The personnel changes were negligible. If they'd wanted to, they could have had something on the President's desk just days after he took office.
The other day, Dan Calabrese wrote that Republicans are stupid when it comes to strategy. About that, he's 100% correct. Smart strategy would have been to have these ducks in a row before the new President took office. Dan argues that Democrats win because they take baby steps and chisel away until they get their goals. Sometimes that's true, but it's not what happened with healthcare.
ObamaCare wasn't a good law, no one outside the beltway wanted it, and the opposition knew it was a disaster. Here's the thing, though. Democrats loved it precisely because it wasn't a baby step. It was a gargantuan chunk of ruination they could pass in one fell swoop. They codified it, got it ready, their membership (which will almost stand together behind a radical left-wing goal) got behind it, and rammed it down our throats through sheer force of will.
The GOP should have been equally bold in its elimination, but they weren't. Not even close. They lack the courage to operate that way. Since they were terrified of the fallout, they opted not to go with the full repeal they'd promised, and passed, so many times before.
Instead, they took just 17 days to cobble together a weak bill that would have failed to accomplish even the most basic of their supposed goals before being hung around their necks like a massive legislative millstone. Then they may or may not have passed "phases 2 and 3" to (sort of) give voters what they demanded. It would have been a whole new mess but, this time, it would have been 100% owned by the Republicans.
...And now, as they prepare to take another run at it, the man in charge says "IF" we can make improvements?
Congrats GOP "leadership," I see you've failed to learn the lesson here.
