Is it possible to repair a house on fire without extinguishing the raging inferno in it?
Republicans think we are stupid enough to believe so.
First they promised to repeal Obamacare “root and branch.” Then they promised to “repeal and replace” without explaining its meaning — other than to legitimize the premise of Obamacare as a partial force for good. Now, they are on to “repair.”
The Hill has the relevant quotes from two of the most important committee chairmen (Senator Walden, R-Ore. (F, 36%) and Senator Alexander, R-Tenn. (F, 15%)) drafting the repeal bill … which will not repeal Obamacare:
“I’m trying to be accurate on this that there are some of these provisions in the law that probably will stay, or we may modify them, but we’re going to fix things, we’re going to repair things,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a key player on healthcare, told reporters Tuesday.
“There are things we can build on and repair, there are things we can completely repeal,” he said.
Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is sounding a similar note. […]
“I think it is more accurate to say repair ObamaCare because, for example, in the reconciliation procedure that we have in the Senate, we can’t repeal all of ObamaCare,” Alexander said. “ObamaCare wasn’t passed by reconciliation, it can’t be repealed by reconciliation. So we can repair the individual market, which is a good place to start.”
As we noted before, every word of this premise is false because the price-hiking coverage regulations are inextricably linked to the subsidies, as noted by the courts and CBO. Therefore, the regulations can be repealed through budget reconciliation. Moreover, the Senate parliamentarian doesn’t have the final say on addressing Senate precedent.
However, there is a more important point to bring out from this story. These people lied to all of us. They told a bald-faced lie. Absolutely nothing changed structurally about Obamacare from the time they made these promises during the past three elections until now. If anything, premiums went up even more than expected and there are even fewer insurers than previously predicted, making the case for repeal an easier political sell.
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- Discussion
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On Obamacare, Republicans who want to retreat from repeal to repair should be replaced.
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) February 2, 2017
As Bobby Jindal said, “Republicans who want to retreat from repeal to repair should be replaced.” https://t.co/nQ4kK1Zq1I
— Daniel Horowitz (@RMConservative) February 3, 2017
Wanna bet their idea of “repair” is single payer, government run health care? That was the intent of Obamacare all along — to give government full power over our lives. And this wasn’t just the intent of Democrats. Everyone in DC, regardless of party, is intoxicated by power over the rest of us. No way will they let Obamacare — and the power it gives them over our lives — get away
Sen. Ron Johnson (R WI) says they don’t have enough power in the Senate to repeal Obamacare. I did not vote for the man to be re-elected. Russ Feingold ran against him again this time around. Johnson votes with the dems much of the time but Repubs said they had to have him in the Senate and Feingold was worse so they rewarded Johnson for his horrible voting record by electing him a second time.
Of course Ron Johnson lied too. When he first ran for the Senate he ran on repealing Obamacare shooting off his mouth left and right about how it was his main agenda. Wasn’t in DC for more than a couple of weeks before he started hobnobbing with rinos and stopped talking about repealing Obamacare. Then lied his way through his re-election campaign and ran not on any accomplishments but that Feingold was the boogeyman. Very frustrating.
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