Strict constitutionalists in the Senate can follow the model of House Freedom Caucus, who blocked the passage of 'Ryancare.' Dream big, set a new precedent of first repealing legislation, followed by the granting of funds to replace federal programs
At the Values Voter Summit in 2013, in a video message, then Representative Paul Ryan said, "We can never give up on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
That was then, this is now.
Following the fortunate demise of 'Ryancare' (a.k.a. Obamacare Lite) in March, Senate leadership has introduced , this past week, their Republican version of socialized medicine in America with the Senate Healthcare Reform Bill (a.k.a. Obamacare Lite II).
Despite assurances and campaign promises to the contrary, congressional leadership has outright refused to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in favor of tinkering around the edges with just how big the state's Medicare bailout should be.
The Republican Party's moniker of 'The Stupid Party' is in jeopardy of morphing into 'The Lying Party.'
And it is not just with healthcare that Congress has stymied voters' expectations for a retreat from the heavy hand of government.
Despite winning the Office of the President, the Senate and the House, the Republicans have remained preoccupied with everything from world peace to the picayune, while failing to produce even one single piece of meaningful legislation.
For the first six months of the Trump administration, Republicans, along with Democrats, have chased phantom Russian boogey-men and balked at proposed budget cuts. Draft rewrites of the 7-year redistributive ACA medical program have simply repackaged the onerous, taxpayer burdens to benefit insurance companies.
Naïve, conservative Americans fully expected, with the election of President Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, absent a wholesale withdrawal, there would at least be a loosening of the reins that binds state and local governments to Washington, D.C. Sadly, yet predictably, Republicans refuse to give up power.
Illegal, federal activity courses through the veins of the 50 states, 3,000+ counties, 19,000+ cities, 13,000+ school districts, 4,000+ universities, and the tens of thousands of regional-state-local districts (e.g., fire, utility, redevelopment, transportation, etc.).
Despite the obvious need for further specialization between the levels of government, Americans cannot look to the Trump administration for the impetus to drop heretofore federally provided services such as healthcare, childcare subsidies and loans for university education. President Trump, concerned with maintaining a reputation as a man of his word, made campaign pledges to the contrary.
To help President Trump make good on his broad promises of healthcare access, school choice and lower student debt, areas all clearly outside the national government's jurisdiction, Congress can begin to restore the legacy of a beautiful, federal system by granting block funds for these purposes directly to the states, absent any regulations whatsoever.
Grant-making is the perfect tool to help the United States government transition from a care-taker role, involved in the everyday lives of Americans, to a fierce, resolute defender of national sovereignty.
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The continued funding for healthcare, housing, education and childcare activities, even if the responsibilities for program design and implementation are shifted to the states, allows lawmakers the political cover to demonstrate their on-going concern.
Nobody 'will die' when ACA is repealed because the Republicans will have fully funded healthcare, at least at the same level as the Democrats.
Provide the funds, even more than at the current allocation if needed to negotiate getting these functions out of the hands of federal regulators.
The insurance industry is regulated at the state level precisely to allow for divergent preferences by elected commissioners who are responsible to the electorate. Let the states, industry lobbyists and their constituents duke it out over preexisting conditions, healthcare for illegals, preventative care for children, medical malpractice limits, high-risk pools, savings accounts, and experimental treatments for terminal patients.
Starting with Congress's obsession with healthcare and education initiatives, the Republicans can stage the repair of not only their party but that of the Republic by first, repealing the controlling legislation that devours their respective economic sectors and then by following up with grant block funding to the states:
Repeal H.R. 3590--Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (111th Congress, 2009-2010), Public Law 111-148. Replace federal incursions into the healthcare marketplace with block grants to the 50 individual states for the express purpose of lowering costs and providing indigent healthcare for American citizens, as if Medicare and Medicaid do not already exist.
Repeal S. 1177--Every Student Succeeds Act (114th Congress, 2015-2016), Public Law 114-95, and the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESA) which it amends. Block grant, with no strings attached, federal money to each state for the general purposes of improved education for American children between the ages of 6 and 17 years old.
Repeal H.R. 4137--Higher Education Opportunity Act (110th Congress, 2007-2008), Public Law 110-315, and the original Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) which it amends. When the federal government block grants higher education funds to states for the purpose of lowering the cost of attendance, they can pull out of the federal student loan business which will help create incentives for inter-state competition to attract the best students, researchers and instructors. All students are held hostage through this thinly veiled public service initiative over student loans that represents one of the more blatant power grabs by the Obama administration.
The imbalance in intergovernmental relations between the federal and state bureaucracies is so overblown that it is now no longer a dual constitutional and fiscal issue, but one of national security import.
The 21st century, not so very unlike the 20th century, presents a turbulent, frightful world where the potency of totalitarian regimes, avowed enemies of the United States and Islamic fascists grows daily with their quest for nuclear arms capability.
In May, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told a Fox News host that if Americans knew what he did about the threat of terrorism, most would "never leave the house."
America, of late, has not demonstrated a level of excellence that suggests she can handle competing domestic, foreign policy and security dictates from Congress.
A Navy destroyer crashes into a commercial container ship? The Secret Service fails to secure a perimeter around the White House? The National Security Agency perpetrates Trotskyite dragnets on American citizens? The Marine Corps is sidetracked by the public distribution of explicitly sexual images of troops? The State Department refuses to demand foreign countries repatriate their criminal illegal aliens? The Justice Department is unable to block the entry of foreigners from states that sponsor terrorism? The on-going incompetency of federal security agencies cannot stand.
To free the United States government from its preoccupation with domestic policy, Congress must begin to return authority to the states so it can lead and direct the federal bureaucracy in safeguarding the American people as its number one priority.
Let us remember, at least in the area of healthcare, Republican congressmen have already promised to repeal ACA.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Roy Blount, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn, Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Congressman Luke Messer, and Senator Mike Crapo promised the repeal countless times since its passage in 2009.
Furthermore, there is a long history of Congress using grants to extract policy deals. It could almost be termed a love affair. A quick perusal of Grants.gov, the U.S. government's clearinghouse for federal grants, illustrates that all manner of activities are funded from A - Community Resiliency in Central Africa, $24,000,000 to Z - Quagga/Zebra Mussel Action Plan for Western US Waters, $940,000.
Vocal opponents of the Senate Healthcare Reform Bill, senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson can prevent the federal leviathan from swallowing up any more of the American economy and personal freedoms by holding out for repeal of ACA before agreeing to a single bit of repair.
A rewrite of ACA is not, by definition, repeal. Nor is this a secret to the millions of literate Americans who know what the 'definition of repeal is' and have fronted this massive redistribution of wealth for seven, excruciating years while Congress exempted themselves from the very same legislation. Replacement is a different animal altogether than repeal and can come at a later stage.
As Senator Rand Paul explained to Breitbart News, "I think the bill looks too much like Obamacare. It really doesn't look like a repeal bill. It looks like we're keeping Obamacare, it keeps probably 100 percent of the Obamacare subsidies. In fact, we have estimated that it may have more subsidies than Obamacare. It creates a new stabilization fund of over $100 billion."
'And' is a conjunction. This is a two-part process. Repeal ACA effective January 1, 2018, and watch, at the state level, as new insurance carriers jump into the market, existing plans continue without a single change, high risk pools return, state clinics fill the void and new kinds of products roll out onto the market, once again offering Americans choice and freedom over their most basic, personal health insurance needs.
Strict constitutionalists in the Senate can follow the model of the House Freedom Caucus who blocked the passage of 'Ryancare.' Dream big and set a new precedent of first repealing legislation, followed by the granting of funds to replace federal programs.
Anything less is yet another betrayal of every conservative voter in America.
Dr. Marguerite Creel has a doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California. She has taught government at UNLV, Peace College and UNC-Chapel Hill.
At the Values Voter Summit in 2013, in a video message, then Representative Paul Ryan said, "We can never give up on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
That was then, this is now.
Following the fortunate demise of 'Ryancare' (a.k.a. Obamacare Lite) in March, Senate leadership has introduced , this past week, their Republican version of socialized medicine in America with the Senate Healthcare Reform Bill (a.k.a. Obamacare Lite II). 
