Moderate Republicans Tanking Clean Obamacare Repeal
But, is it really *that* bad?
Monday night, Sens Lee and Moran effectively killing the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) when they announced they would not support the bill, leaving Senate Republicans with no foreseeable path forward to repeal and replace Obamacare. Sens Lee and Moran joined three other Republican Senators refusing to support the bill.
Shortly after it was apparent the BCRA didn’t have the votes to open up debate, Senate Majority Leader McConnell announced he’d hold a clean repeal vote. McConnell indicated the vote would provide “two-year to provide for a stable transition.”
Republicans voted for this very same repeal repeatedly during the Obama presidency.
Tuesday, three of the caucus’s more moderate Republicans expressed varying degrees of concern for a clean repeal of Obamacare: Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). All three voted for a clean repeal in 2015 under the shelter of presidential veto.
And remember, Sen. McCain is still recovering from brain surgery, unable to vote — leaving the caucus four vote shy.
According to some reports, McConnell will hold the clean repeal vote, regardless.
Sources say McConnell intent to hold vote to proceed on straight repeal, even if it fails
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 18, 2017
But what did the 2015 repeal entail? No regulatory repeals, for starters:
Memo to conservative Twitter: that 2015 repeal bill you all think is the bomb? Didn't repeal a *single* Obamacare regulation. The BCRA did.
— Avik Roy (@Avik) July 18, 2017
Neither did the bill rein in Medicaid expansion.
Regardless, the GOP caucus needs to get their act together. The lack of planning and failure to galvanize support before taking legislation or votes public is pathetically amateurish.
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Comments
Until and unless we can hold a bonfire of the ACA regs, I will continue to regard congress as having failed in their elected duty.
They didn’t ‘fail’ in their duty, any more than Benedict Arnold failed in his duty.
They have betrayed us. It’s that simple.
These are good points. No argument here.
I think, though, the problem is having been given the Obama healthcare bill and the dust settling on its passing and the idea of national healthcare taken root without full comprehension of what is to come of it by way of built in increases like subprime mortgages, that it cannot be simply uprooted without another better bill ready to pass and replace it that satisfies people who want it. Not having a suitable substitute bill ready seems to be the problem. And at least a portion of responsibility must go to the absence of steady Trump leadership. Trump cannot say, either dump it now or replace it. He must chose one and stick with it. Trump waffled unsteadily. Had Trump given directions and stuck with those directions throughout we might be seeing something different. I like Trump quite a lot because of the disruption his election created. I like what is happening in our country. But I also think Trump could have given steadier leadership on this. Alas, he did not.
Well, live and learn again innit.
“And at least a portion of responsibility must go to the absence of steady Trump leadership….”
Could you think of anyone’s leadership that has not be steadier than Trumps? Considering the rats surrounding him in the GOPe, what he has accomplished is nothing short of amazing.
Want obamacare repealed? Want to make America great again? Simple: destroy the GOPe standing in the way.
Moderate Republicans only serve two purposes: slow the advance of the Left to socialism, and, after a fight, walk around and shoot the wounded.
Repeal. Period. We tried it Ryan’s way and it was a total disaster. And since these slimy bozos have a way of twisting words into meaning the opposite, repeal means immediately canceling the law that is currently in effect. Not just some of the taxes. Not just some of the regulations. Not declaring it repealed to take effect after the 2018 elections. Complete repeal effective right now.
It’s like Mark Levin says, these bills are nothing more than putting everyone who doesn’t work for the government on welfare. We need to legalize selling health insurance in open markets. Those who cannot be adequately accommodated by the markets can welfare safety nets we already have.
Americans like open-market solutions. But both Democratic parties are offering almost identical Stalinist “solutions” to a problem that only gets bigger the longer our government stays involved. So enough with the “repeal and replace”. REPEAL! PERIOD!
Weasel Ryan isn’t going to survive another re-election cycle…..
That is a nice thought, but likely unrealistic. Is there any doubt that Ryan has used his “leadership” position to entrench himself further?
Unfortunately, yes, Paul Ryan, will survive and be re-elected. His constituent love him.
Remember, this is a guy who could not out-debate biden.
And last time I checked, Trump was more popular in his district that he is. David Brat Part II.
Seems like we tried it Ryan’s way twice and failed twice.
This may have been the final nail in the coffin. The Dems (and the MSM) will use this whole thing against us for sure. Hopefully, Trump saw this coming and can come up with some sort of outmaneuver.
I believe Trump knew this whole thing would paint the GOPe as the hopeless DNC colluders they have been all along – and open the eyes of millions of American voters to that fact.
Amen. (Or is that sexist?)
BTW, how are we doing with the Article V Convention? Last I heard, we were one or two states away. THAT should be our first priority at this point.
Someone should expound on what they mean by “no regulatory repeals”. Are these non-lawyers saying this? If the repeal bill is written properly and is adequately effective, the enabling statutes and all authority to create regulations implementing the statutes should be eliminated even if the statute was sloppy and did not expressly say so. Under the [weak] non-delegation doctrine, agencies only have the powers conferred to them legislatively by Congress. Without enabling legislation, a regulation would be ultra vires and unenforceable (at least when a court says so) unless there is some residual powers lying in the interstices of other statutes that would confer power to the agency to maintain a reg or enforce it.
The better practice is express repeal rather than fighting the battles to figure out what survives, but a repeal of each and every section of the ACA would by implication repeal the regs promulgated under the text of the ACA. The suggestion that the regs under the ACA would live on in full force and effect without an express repeal in the statute is not accurate. It would just mean that there might be some lack of clarity and certainty and legal disagreements that follow.
“Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). All three voted for a clean repeal in 2015 under the shelter of presidential veto…”
Like pondering obama – i.e., whether he was incredibly incompetent, or a traitor – when he was both – McConnell and Ryan are both bumbling jackasses who are also betraying GOP voters throughout the nation.
The betrayal of the GOPe is such a titanic story, it should be featured here – in a daily column – because it is a story that is light-years more important than, for example, the slavish devotion to disection of the ramblings of idiots at msnbc.
FOUR TIMES we have empowered the GOP the chance to uphold their promises. And FOUR TIMES, they have stabbed us in the back.
THE GOPe IS SINGLE-HANDEDLY RESCUING THE LEFT FROM THE WILL OF AMERICAN PEOPLE’S DESPERATE DESIRE TO ELIMINATE LEFTISM FROM THEIR LIVES. STARVE THEM, VOTE THEM OUT – BUT GET THEM OUT.
Agreed, agreed.
RE: betrayal by the GOPe
McConnell gave this what, 2? 3 hours? He dared not let it sit any longer and allow any momentum to build in support of it.
Here’s your Republican party:
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/07/18/gop-sen-murkowski-we-should-not-repeal-without-a-replacement-becomes-third-gop-vote-against-repeal-then-replace/
Only more government, not free markets, can save the American healthcare system.
BTW, Mark Meadows and others keep pointing out that there are at least 100 GOP congressmen who have sworn that they will never vote to repeal ObamaCare.
WE NEED THAT ARTICLE V CONVENTION NOW!!!!
End the GOP?
Continue trying to take it over.
Either works for me.
We have already gotten to the point where Leftist mobs riot in the streets and the Left has tried to overturn the election results in Congress with a mass assassination. The GOPe has just proved that it will never tell the truth to its voters. What basis do you have to a) believe that with the GOPe in charge and the party rules dependent only on them that a take over is possible, and b) that we have time to do so before the organic waste meets the rotating airfoil?
more America First candidates and doers. Less talkers and media hounds.
You know…this whole saga over Repeal and Replace Obamacare is nothing more than drama performed badly. Let’s be honest, hapless Susan Collins and worthless Lisa Murkowski are running the US Senate. They should just go online and change their party affiliation to Democrat.
Look for Bernie Sanders to introduce a single payer bill tomorrow.
Amazing when you think that McConnell is supposed to be running the Senate.
What a coward. What a corrupt loser. This is from SIX YEARS ago:
“As usual this spineless ass has capitulated to Obama and the Democrats, him and his butt-buddy Mitch McConnell have once again sold us down the river. They had the chance to stand up to those bastards and instead they bent over and kissed their ass. They could have stood their ground and called out Obama on his out and out lies about the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, but no, they would rather cower before the democrats….”
https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2011/12/23/boehner-mcconnell-you-both-suck/
ENOUGH!
if these DC Swampboggers don’t want to support DJT then primary their butts.
they are no use to us and better to be in minority if they cannot govern – and i mean rand paul etc.
Trump needs to take steps for the benefit of the country and to protect himself and the GOP. The question is how far the Executive can go in granting exemptions under the ACA. One potential step is to grant an exemption to every person and entity in the US from the ACA and issue instruction to the IRS not to enforce any penalty. I believe that Mitt Romney and his advisers suggested that it would be done during the 2012 election cycle, but I don’t recall a lot of commentary on whether the Act permitted exemptions on a blanket, widescale basis.
Second, another potential step is an exemption to insurers to underwrite policies they want to write based on risk and reward, and what consumers want to buy based on perceived need and value. It presents the questions of how far can the Executive go in granting exemptions to insurers to open up the marketplace on a variety of choice in individual and group policy offerings. I suppose DHS could repeal all the rules stating express requirements for coverage in policies issued under the ACA, and that would require compliance with the Admin. Procedures Act rather than just a writing with a signature by POTUS.
Move all the federal workers supporting ObamaCare to Alaska in a warehouse without phones, computers, faxes, etc.
Wipe all the data associated with ObamaCare and destroy the servers.
“Regardless, the GOP caucus needs to get their act together. The lack of planning and failure to galvanize support before taking legislation or votes public is pathetically amateurish.”
We need to stop making this mistake. There are no amateurs in the Senate, they knew exactly what they were doing. There is no desire in Washington D.C. to repeal obamacare.
“There is no desire in Washington D.C. to repeal obamacare.”
In their minds, this is mission accomplished. They wasted 7 months and are preparing to push everything into “after the 2018 elections”. Slow walk, kick the can, start over again in 2019 under Pelosi and Schumer.
Trump’s plan for 2018 better be to endorse and campaign for GOP challengers in the primaries. We will never win so long as we don’t purge the GOP. I’ll vote again for Trump if he can just try to recast the GOP, even if he runs 3rd party. Otherwise, I just might be done with voting.
I was thinking the same thing. Scary thing is that those Trump voters which we will need big time might just be dissuaded from voting for Trump again if they succumb to the MSM’s use of this Senate blunder.
You couldn’t have say it better or more concisely.
Bravo!
Yet another example of what Ace termed “failure theater”.
If you think the GOP ever intended to repeal Obamacare… well shucks we really tried but we just couldn’t whip the votes. But if you send us lots of cash and re-elect us again, we pinkie-swears we will repeal it next term. Right after we build that border wall. Suckers.
Mitch McConnell needs to pay the price for this. Replace him with someone who has a spine and knows how to lead.
I
The Republican Party is an embarrassment to those of us who supported and elected them. Mike Lee, refusing to debate the bill. Failure of duty!
When the Establishment attacks a Conservative Republican do not accept it as being true without double checking it yourself. Mitch McConnell has a record of using surrogates to attack and try and discredit Conservatives who stand on principle (like Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, etc.) and do not play along to get along, with the Establishment Republicans acting like Progressive Democrats.
Well, we have still further proof that not all Republicans are created equal and self-preservation is always a U.S. Senator’s primary concern. Even with enough Republicans seated to own the House, Senate, and WH there are still not enough conservatives to power a true conservative agenda.
Just how conservative can a candidate be in Maine and still win an election? Can you get to the right of Collins, win a primary with Republican voters and then win again in a general election?
Has your hypothesis about ‘conservatives’ not getting elected in Maine ever been tested? Set aside for a moment that repealing obamacare has wide mainstream moderate support, Susan Collins is hard-left flaming communist a hair shy of Bernie Sanders. I can easily imagine a more centrist politician, supporting Trump and the Republican base getting elected. I’m hearing a lot of D.C. conventional wisdom and supposition and not a lot of thought.
Can’t Trump kill ObamaCare with executive orders? Tyrant Obama the Liar was able to change it at will with executive orders.
Obamacare empowers the president like no other law ever passing scrutiny with the Supreme Court.
PUT McCAIN AND HIS TUMOR BEFORE A DEATH PANEL.
Bet the GOPe would get rid of it double quick if they all had to go before the…..
As I understand it, the hypothetical repeal bill contains a two-year waiting period before it’s effective, during which time, supposedly, Congress would somehow craft a new bill.
Kumbaya? Not so fast.
All Schumer, et al., have to do is obstruct another two years thereafter. Much like the North Vietnamese waited until our pullout from South Vietnam was complete and then — BOOM. Single payer.
Idiots.
Trump just gave a brilliant response (sorry Rag, but it sounds like Trump not some speechwriter).
In 3 sentences, Trump just flipped the Democrat’s midterm election strategy:
1) We are going to let Obamacare die.
2) We are going to make sure the public remembers Obamacare belongs solely to the Democrats, and that they obstructed our good faith attempt to fix it.
3) We are going to campaign on increasing our margins in the House and Senate so we can get real reform passed for the American people.
Winner strategy.
I live in Maine and have ALWAYS supported and voted for Susan Collins. But she has violated every Conservative Value for the past 4 years turning into another Useless demoCrap. I will vote for anyone other than her.
Sometimes is it better to keep a RINO from getting elected and the defeating the Democrat the next time around than being stuck with someone who votes like a Democrat, but talks like a Conservative at Primary time.
In such cases you need to pray real hard!
Ryan takes money from George Soros. We need to get busy on him and those three senators that voted for repeal when they knew Obama would veto it then against repeal when they knew Trump would sign it. Getting all the above and a few others out of office should be a main focus for donations
If you campaigned for [re-]election on repealing Obamacare, you have an obligation to vote to repeal it.
Replacing it should not happen without a full debate about whether it is the Government’s business to be involved in health insurance, and if so, what its proper role and limitations should be.