While Paul Ryan has taken a lot of well deserved criticism from Tea Party groups for his continuation of John Boehner’s go along to get along policies on a number of issues, there’s one move he’s made that shoudl excite conservatives. Ryan has, over the last few weeks, engineered a behind the scenes effort to gut Obamacare and replace Barack Obama’s disastrous health care plan with something that works for all Americans.
Unfortunately, round one went to Obama. While Ryan has a large number of votes, he has yet to reach the critical mass necessary to override Obama’s veto. From USA Today:
The House on Tuesday failed to override President Obama’s veto of a bill that would have repealed key provisions of Obamacare and stripped federal funding from Planned Parenthood.
The 241-186 vote to override the veto fell short of the two-thirds needed, ensuring that the Affordable Care Act will remain in place at least through the final year of Obama’s term. Republican leaders, who have been criticized by Democrats for failing to come up with an alternative to Obamacare, said they plan to craft a replacement plan this year as a kind of preview for what they hope to do in the next Congress.
The vote came just hours after the president met with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to talk about issues where the White House and Congress might be able to work together. Those issues include criminal justice and mental health reform, the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, the opioid epidemic, the Zika virus and efforts to cure cancer.
Republican House leaders knew that they would lose the Obamacare vote, but they are hoping to use the issue to convince voters to elect a GOP president to help them overturn the 2010 heath care law in the next Congress.
“The president is the only person standing in the way of what the American people want, so our job now is to stand up for them, to demonstrate for them who is on their side,” said Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga.
However, even if the next president is a Republican, it could be tough to push a repeal of Obamacare through the Senate, where Democrats are expected to pick up seats in the November election and could even win the majority.
Ryan’s strategy here is commendable. He hasn’t grandstanded, as many who made previous efforts did, preventing the Democrats from running to the media to craft a sympathetic narrative that casts Republicans as evil capitalists bent on stealing healthcare from the poor. He’s also put a challenge before the GOP. With a year left before President Obama’s out of office, and a contentious election on the way, the GOP MUST craft a credible alternative to Obamacare that serves consumers without leaving the general public in fear that they’ll go uninsured. If Ryan’s continued efforts spur the GOP to create a better healthcare system for this country, or change enough minds to overcome President Obama’s veto, then all his other failures will seem miniscule.
Remember: Obamacare is a plague that’s draining our country’rs fiscal resources and threatening American’s access to quality healthcare. That’s why this election is more important than ever. In the nightmare scenario where Hillary Clinton gets elected, she’s expected to double down on its failed legacy, and appoint Supreme Court justices who will implement similar command and control measures to govern America’s broader economy. Credit to Ryan for understanding that and getting out in front now.
AAN Staff
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