Feeling their oats after ousting former House Speaker John Boehner, the House Freedom Caucus maniacs are formalizing their policy vision and calling it, for now, a "Contract with America II." They're also demanding that it get quick action from new Speaker Paul Ryan. And yes, it is as destructive as you would imagine.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus are preparing a "Contract With America II" that would call for House votes in the first 100 days of 2016 on replacing Obamacare, overhauling entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and repealing the estate tax.
An early draft of the plan obtained by Bloomberg News also calls for legislation to slash government regulations by 20 percent, cut corporate tax rates and expand offshore oil drilling. Efforts are still under way to finalize contents of the "contract," which lawmakers say they hope will become the basis of House Republicans’ 2016 agenda. […]
Some Freedom Caucus members say the new "contract" is intended to show the group can do more than throw rocks at the Republican establishment by devising a more-positive legislative agenda.
That "more positive" agenda also includes defunding Planned Parenthood, of course, and "enacting measures 'to promote workfare, not welfare.'" So massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, sticking up for the big polluters (corporations), and screwing over the olds and the poors. All the stuff Republicans always want to do, but generally know they should not be saying out loud. In an election year.
So, challenge number 1? Replacing Obamacare, since no one in the Republican conference has actually come up with a real way to do that. Challenge number 2? Convincing 218 Republicans running for re-election that doing anything to Social Security and Medicare in an election year is smart. Even Paul Ryan refused to touch Social Security in his vaunted budgets of the past several years. Challenge number 3? Every other thing on their dystopian wish list.
It might work for the extremists in highly gerrymandered districts, but it's pretty much disaster for everyone else, including Senate Republicans and the eventual presidential nominee. All of which Ryan knows very, very well. He also knows that some of the success of Republicans other than those in gerrymandered House seats is going to depend on not having the House continue to be the dysfunctional garbage heap of internecine warfare. As usual. Buckle up, Mr. Ryan. You're in for one very unpleasant ride.