The Unprecedented — and Contemptible — Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare
Doing everything possible to block the law's implementation is not treasonous — just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials
by Norm Ornstein, National Journal
July 24, 2013 | 7:30 p.m.
When Mike Lee pledges to try to shut down the government unless President Obama knuckles under and defunds Obamacare entirely, it is not news—it is par for the course for the take-no-prisoners extremist senator from Utah. When the Senate Republicans' No. 2 and No. 3 leaders, John Cornyn and John Thune, sign on to the blackmail plan, it is news—of the most depressing variety.
I am not the only one who has written about House and Senate Republicans' monomaniacal focus on sabotaging the implementation of Obamacare—Greg Sargent, Steve Benen, Jon Chait, Jon Bernstein, Ezra Klein, and many others have written powerful pieces. But it is now spinning out of control.
It is important to emphasize that this set of moves is simply unprecedented. The clear comparison is the Medicare prescription drug plan. When it passed Congress in 2003, Democrats had many reasons to be furious. The initial partnership between President Bush and Sen. Edward Kennedy had resulted in an admirably bipartisan bill—it passed the Senate with 74 votes. Republicans then pulled a bait and switch, taking out all of the provisions that Kennedy had put in to bring along Senate Democrats, jamming the resulting bill through the House in a three-hour late-night vote marathon that blatantly violated House rules and included something close to outright bribery on the House floor, and then passing the bill through the Senate with just 54 votes—while along the way excluding the duly elected conferees, Tom Daschle (the Democratic leader!) and Jay Rockefeller, from the conference committee deliberations.
(More here.)
by Norm Ornstein, National Journal
July 24, 2013 | 7:30 p.m.
When Mike Lee pledges to try to shut down the government unless President Obama knuckles under and defunds Obamacare entirely, it is not news—it is par for the course for the take-no-prisoners extremist senator from Utah. When the Senate Republicans' No. 2 and No. 3 leaders, John Cornyn and John Thune, sign on to the blackmail plan, it is news—of the most depressing variety.
I am not the only one who has written about House and Senate Republicans' monomaniacal focus on sabotaging the implementation of Obamacare—Greg Sargent, Steve Benen, Jon Chait, Jon Bernstein, Ezra Klein, and many others have written powerful pieces. But it is now spinning out of control.
It is important to emphasize that this set of moves is simply unprecedented. The clear comparison is the Medicare prescription drug plan. When it passed Congress in 2003, Democrats had many reasons to be furious. The initial partnership between President Bush and Sen. Edward Kennedy had resulted in an admirably bipartisan bill—it passed the Senate with 74 votes. Republicans then pulled a bait and switch, taking out all of the provisions that Kennedy had put in to bring along Senate Democrats, jamming the resulting bill through the House in a three-hour late-night vote marathon that blatantly violated House rules and included something close to outright bribery on the House floor, and then passing the bill through the Senate with just 54 votes—while along the way excluding the duly elected conferees, Tom Daschle (the Democratic leader!) and Jay Rockefeller, from the conference committee deliberations.
(More here.)
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2 Comments:
Goodness. Wasn't it Speaker Pelosi who stated that is was patriotic to dissent? What has changed?
I disagree. This leviathan needs to go in to effect lock stock and barrel across the board for everyone come January 1. Why would the GOP oppose it when we all know it's going to be a trainwreck? they are giving the Democrats another chance to say 'see, it failed because the Republicans stopped funding it'. This one is a no brainer. let the law go in to effect and let the Democrats own the whole damn thing. And when it fails, the only ones to blame are Obama and the Democrats. Then, maybe the GOP can win Congress and reform the exchanges to be better.
The GOP needs to stop being opposed to things and start proposing things. What is the GOP plan if not for ObamaCare? The GOP doesn't even have a plan, it's just 'we oppose ObamaCare' as if that's going to marshall the electorate.
The GOP opposes ObamaCare at its own peril. There is nothing to gain politically by opposing it.
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