For those who may be convinced that Obamacare, aka The Affordable Health Care Act - signed into law of March 23, 2010, and now doing well in most states despite its herky jerky rollout and still somewhat negative polling numbers – will not be overturned with Republicans in control of the Senate, consider how the conservative movement has dealt with the issue of abortion.
Codified as a right by the US Supreme Court in 1973, opponents of reproductive rights have been slashing away at abortion for more than forty years. And while the anti-abortion movement has spawned its fair share of terrorists - true believers willing to kill abortion providers, harass patients at clinics, threaten and intimidate health care workers, bomb and burn down clinics -- the movement has also hit upon a strategy that is literally stripping women of their right to an abortion.
Over the past few years, state legislatures have come up with more anti-abortion legislation than at any time in the law's forty-one-+-year history. State by state, abortion rights have been abridged through new restrictions including a twenty-four hour waiting period, parental consent, forced face-to-face counseling with an abortion provider, and a ban on the use of Medicaid funding (except in extraordinary cases). Clinics, forced by legislation to retool at the cost of many thousands of dollars, have been closing by the droves. In some states, recent legislation has imposed a requirement that abortion providers have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital; a requirement that the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say is medically unnecessary.
Tear it up completely or rip it apart piece by piece?
So how will Obamacare fare in a Republican controlled Senate? Heritage Action ("We take the conservative policy visions outlined by our sister organization, The Heritage Foundation, and make them a reality") is encouraging Republicans to think big and repeal Obamacare in its entirety.
However, despite the Party's predilection toward taking the 2700-page law to the floor of the Senate and have someone like Senator Ted Cruz tear it to shreds page-by-page on national television, it is unrealistic to think that the entire bill will be scuttled in one fell swoop.
Instead, cooler heads are likely to prevail and you can expect a steady drip, drip, drip of proposals aimed at revamping and refurbishing the law.
"A Republican-led Congress would attempt to dismantle Obamacare one provision at a time and would try to replace the law the same piecemeal way, using a collection of proposals for improving the nation's health insurance system that have garnered at least some bipartisan support during the past four years," the Washington Examiner's Susan Ferrechio recently reported.
While Republicans do not appear to have a full-bodied health care proposal at the ready, it does have items it is interested in, including "allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, reining in medical malpractice awards, expanding health savings accounts, and allowing small businesses to pool resources to lower insurance costs for employees," Ferrechio pointed out. In addition, as always "Medicaid reform is another element of the GOP's healthcare overhaul plan."
According to the Washington Examiner's reporting, Senator John Barasso, a Wyoming physician who heads the Senate Republican Policy Committee, will play a big role in crafting an across-the-aisle majority around items that both Republicans and Democrats may be able to agree on.
That would leave a severely wounded President Obama in a difficult position. While any revamping of the law would require 60 votes in the Senate to pass, (Republicans will not have the votes to reach 60 alone), Barasso told the Examiner, "I think we can get 60 votes to repeal the employer mandate." If they get the 60 votes, but not the 67 required to override a presidential veto, how will the president respond?
Republicans, who will have the power to move their agenda to the forefront, will also have the power to hold up Obama nominees to key appointments, making judicial appointments virtually impossible.
"This is an opportunity for the Republican Party to demonstrate that it has a governing agenda," said Dan Holler, spokesman for the conservative Heritage Action for America. "Americans think the whole system in Washington is broke. This is [Republicans'] time to change that bad perception – not only of
Washington, but of the Republican Party."
Thus, the makings of a deal. For a president who has been less than stellar in fighting for a progressive agenda, these new political dynamics could force him and his liberal supporters to accept some very unpleasant compromises.