As the clock ticks down toward a Supreme Court ruling that could completely upend Obamacare—and millions of people's health insurance,
Republicans remain adrift, without a plan. Democrats have a whole slew of things ready to go, both to fix the law should the Supreme Court deem it necessary by striking down subsidies for people buying on the federal exchange and for making changes to the law. They're ready to get to work,
they're telling Republicans, if the GOP can ever get over that whole repeal thing.
None of the ObamaCare proposals has been taken up by Republican leaders, angering Democrats who say important fixes are being bottled up by the GOP's fixation on full repeal.
"Absolutely, I think there are some things [we'd be willing to change]," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the leader of the Senate's "Affordable Care Act Works" campaign. "I am just not confident that Republicans in this Congress are focused on anything other than repeal."
"I think there's general willingness to sit down and talk. I just don't think we feel like we have a partner on the other side," he added.
This nudge from the Democrats is highlighting the rift between two extremes: one side represented by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal who says that the most important thing for Republicans to do is get a repeal bill on President Obama's desk, the other represented by Karl Rove who has been arguing that Republicans can't just hang millions out to dry and have a responsibility to their own re-elections to do something that makes it look like they give a damn. That leaves Republican leadership to pretend that there really isn't a rift, after all. Like this:
"We can/will do both. The Leader supports full repeal, as well as targeted measures that provide Americans relief from the worst provisions of ObamaCare," Don Stewart, the spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), wrote in an email.
Isn't that precious, after five years of failure to do anything? This is something more Democrats need to be highlighting in the next month and a half, before the Supreme Court hands down its
King decision on the subsidies. The more pressure on Republicans, the better.