Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Do Republican members of Congress tweet absurd, scurrilous, and/or libelous messages that frequently contradict or disrupt the Administration’s own policies, to the extent that the Administration rarely pursues a course of action over a measurable period of time with enough self-consistency to be called a policy? Do they tell grotesque and incoherent lies out of pique, boredom, or, most often, a simple insatiable desire for attention and approval?
Well, no. But otherwise they’re a total disaster. Over at Reason, Peter Suderman notes that Republicans in the Senate, following in the House’s footsteps, have abandoned any pretense of following an honest and open legislative process in developing legislation to fundamentally reshape the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act: Republicans Are Keeping Their Health Care Secret Because They Can’t Defend It On The Merits. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is struggling to pass legislation that would affect virtually every aspect of the health care industry in the U.S. without a single hearing, without the input of a single citizen, “expert”, or interested party.
Because this bill has nothing to do with health care, and everything to do with politics. Republicans have been promising for more than six years now that they were going to tear up “ObamaCare” by the roots. Will this bill do that? Nuh-uh. Suderman explains: “Republicans, in other words, want to solve the problems of high premiums, market instability, and coverage access with legislation that is likely to make all of those issues much worse. And they want to pass an Obamacare repeal bill that nonetheless leaves its fundamental individual market structure in place, in a vastly degraded form.” Of course, Republicans will keep one campaign promise, the one campaign promise they always make, and always keep: they will cut taxes on the rich.
Afterwords
I know you’re gagging, but Rachel Bade and Sarah Harris, writing in Politico, fill us in on more incompetence: “Internal House GOP budget feud threatens agenda”. We all know how much Republicans hate government spending. Except, mostly, it’s the other guy’s spending they hate. And since they all want to cut taxes, something’s got to give. Except, no one’s giving. “With all parties seeming unwilling to cave, a darker mood has settled over the conference. Republicans railed for years about the importance of budgeting and fiscal responsibility. But now in control of Washington’s key levers, their inability to pass a budget would be a huge embarrassment.” Which means that things are likely boil and bubble fruitlessly over the summer, when Congress doesn’t like to work much, except that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin wants to raise the debt ceiling before the August recess, which could cause a serious hassle, unless Republicans decide it would be simpler to let the government go into default. Because this whole governing thing is turning out to be a lot more complicated than anyone knew.
This is what happens to a party when it chooses irresponsibility as its raison d'être.
