That’s the word from conservative health care policy maven/guru/wise man Avik Roy, writing in Forbes, urging Senate Republicans to stop waiting for House Speaker Paulie Ryan to get his ObamaCare replacement bill through the House before taking action. Avik has already repeatedly trashed Ryan’s bill, but he’s too polite, or too cautious, to repeat himself, because he doesn’t really explain why the Senate needs to get its act in gear. Perhaps because the House bill is, you know, total crap and shouldn’t be passed in the first place? Perhaps because, unless the Senate buckles down and writes a real bill instead of a dysfunctional grab-bag thrown together by an incompetent, self-important wind bag, Republicans shouldn’t even try to replace ObamaCare? Is that the theory, Avik?
Afterwords
Independent right-wing outfits like the Koch Machine, Club for Growth, and Heritage, which opposed the Ryan travesty the first time around, are supporting it this time, in a stunning show of cowardice. Ryan was able to buy the support of the far-right “Freedom Caucus” in the House by adding some cool-sounding options that now are pissing off the moderates. Trump, after discovering after the fact that his swan’s dive on the appropriations bill was really a belly flop, is desperate for a win, at virtually any cost, while the far right seems willing to kick the can down the road so that the Senate, and that gosh-darn filibuster thing, will get the blame for “gutting” a terrible piece of legislation. With each passing day, the Republican establishment embraces Trump more firmly, and is corrupted more profoundly. Apparently, electing a two-year-old as president has consequences.
